PART 4

Stamp Duties

125. —In this Part “Principal Act” means the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act, 1999 .

126. —(1) Section 81 of the Principal Act is amended:

(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) No stamp duty shall be chargeable under or by reference to the heading ‘CONVEYANCE or TRANSFER on sale of any property other than stocks or marketable securities or a policy of insurance or a policy of life insurance’ in Schedule 1 on any instrument to which this section applies.”,

(b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (6):

“(6) Subsection (2) shall not apply to an instrument unless it has, in accordance with section 20, been stamped with a particular stamp denoting that it is not chargeable with any duty or that it is duly stamped.”,

(c) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (7):

“(7) (a) If and to the extent that any person to whom land was conveyed or transferred by any instrument in respect of which relief from duty under this section was allowed—

(i) disposes of such land, or part of such land, within a period of 5 years from the date of execution of the instrument, and

(ii) does not replace such land with other land within a period of one year from the date of such disposal,

then such person or, where there is more than one such person, each such person, jointly and severally, shall become liable to pay to the Commissioners a penalty equal to the amount of the duty which would have been charged in the first instance if the land disposed of had been conveyed or transferred by an instrument to which this section had not applied together with interest on that amount as may so become payable charged at a rate of 1 per cent per month or part of a month from the date of disposal of the land to the date the penalty is remitted.

(b) Where any claim for relief from duty under this section has been allowed and it is subsequently found that a declaration made, or a certificate contained in the instrument, in accordance with subsection (3)—

(i) was untrue in any material particular which would have resulted in the relief afforded by this section not being granted, and

(ii) was made, or was included, knowing same to be untrue or in reckless disregard as to whether it was true or not,

then any person who made such a declaration, or where a false certificate has been included, the person or persons to whom the land is conveyed or transferred by the instrument, jointly and severally, shall be liable to pay to the Commissioners as a penalty an amount equal to 125 per cent of the duty which would have been charged on the instrument in the first instance had all the facts been truthfully declared and certified, together with interest on that amount as may so become payable charged at a rate of 1 per cent per month or part of a month from the date when the instrument was executed to the date the penalty is remitted.”,

and

(d) in subsection (9) by the substitution of “31 December 2002” for “31 December 1999”.

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply and have effect in relation to instruments executed on or after 1 January 2000.

127. —(1) Section 86 of the Principal Act is amended in paragraph (b)—

(a) by the substitution of “ICC Bank public limited company” for “Industrial Credit Corporation p.l.c.”, and

(b) by the deletion of “Bord Telecom Éireann,”.

(2) (a) Subsection (1)(a) shall have effect in relation to transfers of loan stock executed on or after 10 February 2000.

(b) Subsection (1)(b) shall have effect in relation to transfers of loan stock executed where the loan stock was issued on or after 10 February 2000.

128. —(1) Section 87 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by the deletion of the definition of “stock” and the definition of “stock borrower”, and

(ii) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “stock borrowing”:

“‘stock borrowing’ means a transaction in which a person other than an individual (in this section referred to as the ‘stock borrower’)—

(a) obtains stock from another person other than an individual (in this section referred to as the ‘lender’), and

(b) gives an undertaking to provide to the lender, not later than 6 months after the date on which the said stock borrower obtained the stock referred to in paragraph (a), equivalent stock;”,

(b) in subsection (3) by the substitution of “6 months” for “3 months” in both places where it occurs, and

(c) in subsection (4)—

(i) by the insertion of “, for a period of 3 years from the date of the stock borrowing,” after “maintain”, and

(ii) by the deletion of paragraph (a).

(2) (a) Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) shall apply to stock borrowing transactions entered into on or after 6 April 1999, and

(b) Subsection (1)(c) shall apply to stock borrowing transactions entered into on or after 10 February 2000.

129. —(1) The Principal Act is amended in Part 7 by the insertion in Chapter 2 of the following section after section 87:

“87A.—(1) In this section—

‘equivalent stock’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 87 subject to references—

(a) to ‘obtained from the lender’ being read as ‘transferred to the repo buyer’,

(b) to ‘stock borrowing’ being read as ‘stock transfer’,

(c) to ‘lender’ being read as ‘repo seller’,

(d) to ‘stock borrower’ being read as ‘repo buyer’,

(e) to ‘borrowed stock’ being read as ‘stock transferred’, and

(f) to ‘borrower’ being read as ‘repo buyer’;

‘repurchase agreement’ means an agreement between a person other than an individual (in this section referred to as the ‘repo seller’) and another person other than an individual (in this section referred to as the ‘repo buyer’) whereby the repo seller agrees to sell stock to the repo buyer on terms that the repo seller will repurchase, and the repo buyer will resell, equivalent stock not later than 6 months after the date of the stock transfer;

‘stock return’ means a transaction or transactions whereby a repo buyer conveys equivalent stock to a repo seller in pursuance of a repurchase agreement and within the 6 month time limit referred to in the repurchase agreement;

‘stock transfer’ means a transaction whereby a repo seller conveys stock to a repo buyer in pursuance of a repurchase agreement.

(2) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on a stock transfer or on a stock return.

(3) If and to the extent that the repo seller does not repurchase or cause to be repurchased from the repo buyer before the expiration of the period of 6 months from the date of the stock transfer equivalent stock the repo buyer shall pay to the Revenue Commissioners within 14 days after the expiration of that period the amount of ad valorem duty which would have been chargeable on the stock so transferred if this section had not been enacted.

(4) If any repo buyer fails to duly pay any sum which that repo buyer is liable to pay under subsection (3), that sum, together with—

(a) interest on that sum at the rate of 1 per cent per month or part of a month from the first day after the expiration of the period of 6 months referred to in subsection (3) to the date of payment of that sum, and

(b) by means of further penalty, a sum equal to 1 per cent of the duty for each day the duty remains unpaid,

shall be recoverable from the repo buyer as a debt due to the Minister for Finance for the benefit of the Central Fund.

(5) Every repo buyer shall maintain, for a period of 3 years from the date of the stock transfer, separate records of each stock transfer and any stock return made in respect of that stock transfer and such records shall include, in respect of each stock transfer, the following:

(a) the name and address of the repo seller;

(b) the type, nominal value, description and amount of the stock transferred by the repo seller;

(c) the date on which the stock was transferred to the repo buyer;

(d) the date on which equivalent stock should be repurchased by the repo seller;

(e) the type, nominal value, description and amount of the stock returned by the repo buyer to the repo seller and the date of such return;

(f) where paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) or (h) of the definition of ‘equivalent stock’ applies, full details of that equivalent stock.”.

(2) This section shall apply—

(a) in relation to subsections (1) and (2) of section 87A, to a stock transfer and a stock return in respect of such stock transfer each of which are executed on or after 6 April 1999, and

(b) in relation to subsections (3), (4) and (5) of section 87A, to a stock transfer and a stock return in respect of such stock transfer each of which are executed on or after 10 February 2000.

130. —(1) The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 88:

“88A.—Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any conveyance or transfer of assets in respect of which no chargeable gain accrues by virtue of section 739A (inserted by the Finance Act, 2000) of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 .”.

(2) This section shall apply and have effect in relation to a conveyance or transfer executed on or after the date of the passing of this Act.

131. —(1) Section 97 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (2):

(a) by the deletion in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of “or”,

(b) by the substitution in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of “1996, or” for “1996.”, and

(c) by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (ii):

“(iii) to an order or other determination to like effect, which is analogous to an order referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii), of a court under the law of another territory made under or in consequence of the dissolution of a marriage, being a dissolution that is entitled to be recognised as valid in the State.”.

(2) This section shall apply to an order or other determination to like effect where the order or the determination is made on or after 10 February 2000.

132. —(1) The Principal Act is amended in Part 8 by the insertion of the following section after section 120:

“120A.—The statement required to be delivered pursuant to this Part in respect of a transaction specified in section 116(1)(c) shall, in any case where, within the period of 4 years immediately before the date of the transaction and on or after 4 August 1973, there has been a reduction in the issued capital of the capital company concerned as a result of losses sustained by the company, be charged at the rate of zero per cent in respect of so much of the amount determined in accordance with section 118 as corresponds to the reduction in issued capital or to so much of the reduction in issued capital to which the rate of zero per cent had not been applied in respect of an earlier transaction occurring since the reduction in capital.”.

(2) This section shall apply and have effect in relation to transactions executed on or after 15 December 1999.

133. —(1) Schedule 1 to the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by the substitution under the Heading “CONVEYANCE or TRANSFER on sale of any property other than stocks or marketable securities or a policy of insurance or a policy of life insurance” of the following paragraph for paragraph (15):

and

(b) by the substitution in paragraph (1) of the Heading “LEASE” of “£15,000” for “£6,000”.

(2) (a) Subsection (1)(a) shall have effect in relation to instruments executed on or after 10 February 2000.

(b) Subsection (1)(b) shall have effect in relation to instruments executed on or after 1 December 1999.