PART 4

Stamp Duties

118. —Section 54 of the Stamp Act, 1891, is hereby amended by the substitution of “upon the sale or compulsory acquisition thereof” for “upon the sale thereof”.

119. —(1) Section 59 of the Stamp Act, 1891, is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (6):

“(7) In subsection (1) ‘stock, or marketable securities’ does not include a share warrant issued in accordance with the provisions of section 88 of the Companies Act, 1963 .”.

(2) This section shall apply to contracts or agreements for the sale of share warrants entered into on or after the 4th day of March, 1998.

120. —The heading “BILL OF EXCHANGE or PROMISSORY NOTE” in the First Schedule to the Stamp Act, 1891, is hereby amended—

and

(b) by the insertion of the following exemptions:

“(10) Direct debits and standing orders.

(11) Bill drawn on an account outside the State.”.

121. —(1) Section 92 of the Finance Act, 1982 , is hereby amended in subsection (1) by the substitution, in paragraph (c) of the definition of “excluded amount”, of “classes I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX” for “class VII”.

(2) Subsection (8) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1984 ) of section 92 of the Finance Act, 1982 , is hereby repealed.

122. — Section 203 of the Finance Act, 1992 , is hereby amended in subsection (2):

(a) by the substitution in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (II) of the proviso of “paragraph (a), (b) or (c), or” for “paragraph (a), (b) or (c),”, and

(b) by the insertion in the proviso of the following paragraph after paragraph (II):

“(III) if the cash card is a replacement for a cash card which is already included in the relevant statement,”.

123. —(1) Section 107 of the Finance Act, 1996 , is hereby amended in subsection (1) by the substitution of the following proviso for the proviso to that subsection:

“Provided that:

(a) if and to the extent that the member firm does not transfer those securities to a bona fide purchaser before the expiration of the period of one month from the date of transfer, hereinafter in this section referred to as ‘the specified period’, the member firm shall pay to the Commissioners within 14 days after the expiration of the specified period the amount of ad valorem duty which would have been chargeable on the transfer if this section had not been enacted;

(b) the member firm may, in relation to any such sale with a completion date not later than 30 days from the date of the contract for sale and prior to the date of the contract, elect to have such completion date treated as the date of the second-mentioned transfer referred to in paragraph (a) and, in that event, that completion date shall be deemed, for the purposes of paragraph (a), to be the date of that second-mentioned transfer.”.

(2) This section shall have effect as respects instruments executed on or after the date of the passing of this Act in pursuance of contracts for sale entered into on or after the date of the passing of this Act.

124. —(1) (a) This subsection applies to—

(i) section 15(1) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1991 ) of the Stamp Act, 1891,

(ii) section 69(2) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1979 ) of the Finance Act, 1973 ,

(iii) sections 16(6) and 17(5)(b) of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1981 ,

(iv) sections 91(6) and 92(6) of the Finance Act, 1982 ,

(v) section 90 (6) of the Finance Act, 1983 ,

(vi) section 97 (6) of the Finance Act, 1984 ,

(vii) section 55 (6) of the Finance Act, 1985 ,

(viii) sections 92(6) and 93(6) of the Finance Act, 1986 ,

(ix) section 48 (6) of the Finance Act, 1987 ,

(x) section 64 (6) of the Finance Act, 1988 ,

(xi) section 64 (6) of the Finance Act, 1989 ,

(xii) sections 108(6), 109(5) and 113(4) of the Finance Act, 1990 ,

(xiii) section 89 (6) of the Finance Act, 1991 ,

(xiv) sections 200(6) and 203(6) of the Finance Act, 1992 ,

(xv) section 112 (6) of the Finance Act, 1994 ,

(xvi) sections 142(6) and 150(3) of the Finance Act, 1995 , and

(xvii) section 107 (2) of the Finance Act, 1996 .

(b) Where any interest to which this subsection applies is chargeable, for any period commencing on or after the date of the passing of this Act, in respect of stamp duty due to be paid whether before, on or after such date, such interest shall be chargeable at the rate of 1 per cent per month or part of a month in the case of interest which, but for this paragraph, would be chargeable at the rate of 1.25 per cent per month or part of a month, or 15 per cent per annum, as the case may be, specified in those sections and those sections shall have effect as if the rate of 1 per cent per month or part of a month were substituted for the rate so specified.

(2) As respects any month, or part of a month, commencing on or after the date of the passing of this Act, section 69 of the Finance Act, 1973 , is hereby amended by the substitution in paragraph (ii) of the second proviso to subsection (1) for “9 per cent. per annum” of “6 per cent per annum”.

(3) As respects any month, or part of a month, commencing on or after the date of the passing of this Act, section 112 of the Finance Act, 1990 , is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (3)(b) by the substitution for “one per cent.” of “0.5 per cent”, and

(b) in subsection (6) by the substitution for “one per cent.” of “0.5 per cent”.

125. —Each enactment mentioned in column (2) to Schedule 8 to this Act is hereby repealed to the extent specified opposite that mention in column (3) of that Schedule.