PART IV

Stamp Duties

64. —(1) In this section—

“assessable amount” means the amount arrived at by dividing the specified amount by twelve and deducting £12,000,000 from the quotient;

“bank” means a person who, on the 1st day of September, 1988, was the holder of a licence granted under section 9 of the Central Bank Act, 1971 ;

“relevant sum”, in relation to a return, means a sum shown in the return other than a sum shown in respect of foreign currency;

“returns”, in relation to a bank, means the returns, entitled “MONTHLY RETURN OF ALL LICENSED BANKS: RESIDENT BRANCHES”, furnished to the Central Bank of Ireland by the bank in respect of the assets and liabilities of the bank as on the 20th day of January, 1988, the 17th day of February, 1988, the 31st day of March, 1988, the 20th day of April, 1988, the 18th day of May, 1988, the 30th day of June, 1988, the 20th day of July, 1988, the 17th day of August, 1988, the 30th day of September, 1988, the 19th day of October, 1988, the 16th day of November, 1988, and the 31st day of December, 1988;

“specified amount”, in relation to a bank, means the amount obtained by deducting the aggregate amount of the relevant sums shown in respect of Item 302.2 in supplement 1 of the returns of the bank from the aggregate amount of the relevant sums shown in the returns in respect of Government deposits and Non-Government deposits and shown as liabilities of the bank in such returns.

(2) A bank shall, not later than the 13th day of September, 1989, deliver to the Revenue Commissioners a statement in writing showing the assessable amount for that bank, the specified amount for that bank and the sums referred to in the definition of “specified amount” in subsection (1) by reference to which that specified amount was calculated.

(3) There shall be charged on every statement delivered pursuant to subsection (2) a stamp duty of an amount equal to the sum of the following:

(a) 0.31 per cent. of that part of the assessable amount shown therein that does not exceed £120,000,000, and

(b) 0.423 per cent. of that part of the assessable amount shown therein that exceeds £120,000,000:

Provided that in the case where the assessable amount shown in the statement does not exceed £120,000,000, stamp duty of an amount equal to 0.31 per cent. of the assessable amount shown therein shall be charged.

(4) The duty charged by subsection (3) upon a statement delivered by a bank pursuant to subsection (2) shall be paid by the bank upon delivery of the statement.

(5) There shall be furnished to the Revenue Commissioners by a bank such particulars as the Revenue Commissioners may deem necessary in relation to any statement required by this section to be delivered by the bank.

(6) In the case of failure by a bank to deliver any statement required by subsection (2) within the time provided for in that subsection or of failure to pay the duty chargeable on any such statement on the delivery thereof, the bank shall, from the date of the passing of this Act until the day on which the duty is paid, be liable to pay, by way of penalty, in addition to the duty, interest thereon at the rate of 15 per cent. per annum and also from the 13th day of September, 1989, by way of further penalty, a sum equal to 1 per cent. of the duty for each day the duty remains unpaid and each penalty shall be recoverable in the same manner as if the penalty were part of the duty.

(7) The delivery of any statement required by subsection (2) may be enforced by the Revenue Commissioners under section 47 of the Succession Duty Act, 1853, in all respects as if such statement were such account as is mentioned in that section and the failure to deliver such statement were such default as is mentioned in that section.

(8) The stamp duty charged by this section shall not be allowed as a deduction for the purposes of the computation of any tax or duty under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners payable by the bank.

65. —No stamp duty shall be chargeable on any instrument under which any land, easement, way-leave, water right or other right whatsoever over or in respect of the land or water is acquired by the Custom House Docks Development Authority.

66. —(1) No stamp duty shall be chargeable on any agreement or other instrument made for the purposes of, or in connection with, securing the advancement of moneys to housing authorities by the Agency.

(2) In this section—

“the Agency” means the Housing Finance Agency p.l.c., being the body formerly known as the Housing Finance Agency;

“housing authority” means a housing authority within the meaning of the Housing Act, 1966 .

(3) This section shall have effect with respect to instruments executed on or after the 1st day of November, 1986.

67. —Section 27 of the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891, is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following for the definition of the expression “die”:

“The expression ‘die’ includes any plate, type, tool, implement, apparatus, appliance, device, process and any other means whatsoever, used by or under the direction of the Commissioners for expressing or denoting any duty, or rate of duty or the fact that any duty or rate of duty or penalty has been paid or that an instrument is duly stamped or is not chargeable with any duty or for denoting any fee, and also any part or combination of any such plate, type, tool, implement, apparatus, appliance, device, process and any such other means:”;

(b) by the substitution of the following for the definition of the expression “stamp”:

“The expression ‘stamp’ means—

(a) any stamp, image, type, mark, seal, impression, imprint or perforation, whatsoever, impressed by means of a die, or

(b) any receipt in whatever form issued by or under the direction of the Commissioners, or

(c) an adhesive stamp issued by or under the direction of the Commissioners,

for denoting any duty or fee:”;

(c) by the insertion of the following after the definition of the expression “stamped”:

“The expression ‘impressed’ includes any method of applying, producing or indicating a stamp on instruments or material by means of a die:”.

68. —Section 122 of the Stamp Act, 1891, is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following for the definition of the expression “stamp”:

“The expression ‘stamp’ means—

(a) any stamp, image, type, mark, seal, impression, imprint or perforation, whatsoever, impressed by means of a die, or

(b) any receipt in whatever form issued by or under the direction of the Commissioners, or

(c) an adhesive stamp issued by or under the direction of the Commissioners,

for denoting any duty or fee:”;

(b) by the insertion of the following after the definition of the expression “stamped”:

“The expression ‘die’ includes any plate, type, tool, implement, apparatus, appliance, device, process and any other means whatsoever, used by or under the direction of the Commissioners for expressing or denoting any duty, or rate of duty or the fact that any duty or rate of duty or penalty has been paid or that an instrument is duly stamped or is not chargeable with any duty or for denoting any fee, and also any part or combination of any such plate, type, tool, implement, apparatus, appliance, device, process and any such other means:

The expression ‘impressed’ includes any method of applying, producing or indicating a stamp on instruments or material by means of a die:”.

69. —The Forgery Act, 1913, is hereby amended—

(a) in section 8 (2) (b), by the insertion of “(as amended by the Finance Act, 1989)” after “Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891”, and

(b) in section 18, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the expressions ‘die’ and ‘stamp’, when used in this Act in relation to the Revenue Commissioners, have the same meanings, respectively, as are assigned to them by the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891 (as amended by the Finance Act, 1989).”.

70. —(1) (a) Where in the course of a bona fide reconstruction or amalgamation of companies which, except for the fact that the transferee company is not registered in the State but is duly registered in another Member State of the European Economic Community, is in accordance with the provisions of section 31 of the Finance Act, 1965 —

(i) the transferee company acquires all of the issued share capital of a particular existing company and the consideration for the acquisition consists wholly of the issue of shares in the transferee company to the holders of shares in the existing company in exchange for the shares held by them in the existing company, and

(ii) the particular existing company and the transferee company are shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners to be wholly owned subsidiaries of the same holding company, then stamp duty under the heading “CONVEYANCE or TRANSFER on sale” in the First Schedule (as amended by the Finance Act, 1970 , and subsequent enactments) to the Stamp Act, 1891, shall not be chargeable on any instrument made for the purposes of or in connection with the transfer of the shares.

(b) In this section “holding company” and “subsidiaries” have the same meanings as they have in the Companies Act, 1963 .

(2) This section shall have effect with respect to instruments executed on or after the 20th day of December, 1988.

71. —(1) Section 44 of the Finance Act, 1970 , is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) In this section ‘stock’ means—

(a) any loan stock of a company registered or established in the State or a Board established by or under an Act of the Oireachtas or the Oireachtas of Saorstát Éireann the payment of the interest on which is guaranteed by the Minister for Finance, or

(b) any loan stock of the Electricity Supply Board, Radio Telefís Éireann, Industrial Credit Corporation p.l.c., Bord Telecom Éireann or Irish Telecommunications Investments p.l.c. to which paragraph (a) of this subsection does not apply.”.

(2) This section shall have effect with respect to instruments executed on or after the 27th day of June, 1988.

72. —The First Schedule (as amended by the Finance Act, 1970 , and subsequent enactments) to the Stamp Act, 1891, is hereby amended under the heading “LEASE”—

(a) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (1):

and

(b) by the deletion of subparagraph (a) of paragraph (2).