Budget 2009 - Stamp Duty

Commercial Property

The current stamp duty applicable to non-residential property is being changed in respect of instruments executed on or after 15 October 2009. The top rate of duty is being reduced from 9% to 6% and the new rates are:

Aggregate Consideration €	Rate of Duty
Up to 10,000	Exempt
10,001 to 20,000	1%
20,001 to 30,000	2%
30,001 to 40,000	3%
40,001 to 70,000	4%
70,001 to 20,000	5%
Over 80,000	6%

Financial Cards

Changes are being made to stamp duties applicable to ATM and Debit cards. The rate changes are summarised as follows:

Description	Current	New
ATM cards	€5	€2.50
Debit cards	€5	€2.50
Combined ATM/Debit cards	€10	€5

The changes for ATM and Debit cards will take effect for the year ending 31 December 2008, the duty for which is normally collected from bank customers by financial institutions in early 2009.

There is no change in the stamp duty on credit cards and charge cards which remains at €30.

Bills of Exchange (including cheques)

The stamp duty rate on bills of exchange is being increased from 30 cent to 50 cent in respect of bills of exchange drawn on or after 15 October 2008. In the case of cheques, the increase will apply in respect of cheques applied by financial institutions to customers on or after 15 October 2008.

Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) and Tax Rates on Life Assurance Policies and Investment Funds

The rates of retention tax that apply to deposit interest, together with the rates of tax that apply to a) life assurance policies and b) investment funds, are being increased by 3 percentage points to 23% and 26% respectively. The increased rates will apply to payments including deemed payments, made on or after 1 January 2009. Full details in relation to DIRT will be included in the Finance Bill.

Filing of Tax Returns

To encourage take-up of Revenue’s online services (ROS) a general extension to existing deadlines for returns filing and payment of tax is being made where returns and payments are made via Revenue’s online systems. Details will be provided in the Finance Bill.