Revenue stamps are stamps used as evidence of payment of a tax. Commonly found on various types of legal documents and commercial papers, in appearance, revenue stamps resemble postage stamps and can be in perforate or imperforate form.

Revenue stamps can be issued by or on behalf of national and local governments as well as by various official bodies.        

In certain instances, due to various reasons, revenue stamps where used for postage purposes thus creating an area of special interest in regards to philately. It should be duly noted that the research and study of such stamps constitutes and is integral part of philately.

Considering the immense amount of various types of revenue stamps created and considerable number of occurrences of their use for postage purposes throughout the history, it certainly presents an opportunity for a collector to engage or specialize in particular area of his/her interest.

Distinction between a “Postage and Revenue” stamp and a “postal fiscal”

Certain stamps where originally issued as dual purpose stamps i.e. for both revenue and postal use, often inscribed as “Postage and Revenue” stamps. Conversely, a revenue stamp authorized subsequently for postal use (due to various reasons, e.g. shortage of postage stamps etc.) is colloquially known as a “postal fiscal”.

Factors that contribute to a value of postal stamps are also applicable for revenue stamps and in order to evaluate particular issue a reference literature should be used.

It should be noted that some of the major catalogues, for instance Stanley Gibbons and Michel only list dual purpose “Postage and Revenue” stamps while both the Scott Standard Catalogue and the Scott Specialized U.S. Catalogue cover US revenue stamps. In the case of revenue stamp coverage of Great Britain & Commonwealth, recommended catalogue is Great Britain Revenues catalogue by J. Barefoot.