Upon completion, the stock is returned to the transfer department of the bank and by it delivered to the office of the registrar. After registration, it is sent back again to the bank and is examined by the transfer department for the registrar's signature and for the date, and when ready for delivery, say, about I :3o P.M., it is pinned to the stub of the receipt. The name of the transfer clerk is entered in the power of attorney on the back of the old certificates and they arc filed away in numerical order.
The Stock Ledgers The posting from the stock ledgers is made from the transfer sheets on the following morning. It is important that these postings be made before I :3o P.M., so as to be able to detect any raised certificates and to prevent the overlooking of stop-trans fers. The ledger sheets are provided with a space at the top for the name of the stockholder and his address and the name of the person to whom he desires his dividends to be sent. They are ruled with a debit and a credit side; on the debit side are the date of surrender, the number of the certificate, and the amount of shares, and on the credit side are the date of issue, the number of the certificate, the date of cancellation, the number of shares, and the balance. As a means of checking the entries, the sheets may be entered in alphabetical order and a record kept of the stock standing under each letter of the alphabet; upon the com pletion of a set of such sheets, the debits and credits of the different letters may then be footed and entered in a proof book and the total credits of each letter proved against the amount of stock outstanding.
When a corporation for which the bank is transfer agent de clares a dividend, the department is notified by the secretary of the corporation, with advice of the rate, date of record, and the date when payable. Dividend sheets are prepared with a list of the stockholders and their addresses, and these are footed, proved against the proof book, and delivered to the corporation.
Some corporations whose stocks are listed on exchanges in other cities maintain several transfer agents, and the certificates are transferable at each agency. In such case, in making a transfer the transfer agent assumes full responsibility and notifies the other agent or agents of the name of the stockholder, the amount of shares, and the certificate number, and forwards to him the canceled certificates. If stock ledgers are kept in each city, the
transfer agents are required to report daily to each other the number of shares canceled in a city other than that in which the shares were issued; but if the stock ledger is kept only in one headquarters city, the transfer agents are required to report only to that city.
Taxation of Transfers Some of the states impose transfer taxes. The state of New York, for instance, imposes a tax on all sales, agreements to sell, or memoranda of sales of stock, and upon any and all deliveries or transfers of shares or certificates of stock, at the rate of 2 cents on each $loo of par value or fraction thereof. The federal gov ernment imposed a similar tax of 2 cents per $ioo or fraction thereof, beginning December r, 1917. These taxes must be paid before the transfer can be made. The payment is noted by stamps affixed to the surrendered certificate or to attached bill of sale. Every stamp must be canceled by writing or by stamping the initials of either the maker of the instrument or of the person actually affixing the stamp. The transfer agent is obliged to see that every stamp is properly affixed on the certificate or bill of sale and that it is duly canceled. The seller pays the transfer tax; if he lives, say, in Massachusetts and the transfer is made in New York, he will have to pay the Massachusetts state tax, the New York state tax, and the federal tax; but the transfer agent in such case has only the latter two taxes to care for.
Proxies The transfer department may act as transfer agent for the bank itself. If it does so act, about a month before the annual meeting of the stockholders takes place there is mailed to each stockholder a proxy with a letter attached informing him of the date of the meeting and requesting him to sign the proxy and return it to the department if he cannot be present. These returned signed proxies are sorted according to the ledger, and the number of shares is entered at the top of each proxy. The proxy list has columns for the stockholder's name, the amount of shares, and the amount of proxies. On the day of the annual meeting these proxies are handed to the officers of the bank.