S.I. No. 101/1977 - Imposition of Duties (No. 228) (Stamp Duty on Certain Instruments) Order, 1977.

S.I. No. 101 of 1977.

IMPOSITION OF DUTIES (NO. 228) (STAMP DUTY ON CERTAIN INSTRUMENTS) ORDER, 1977.

The Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 1 of the Imposition of Duties Act, 1957 (No. 7 of 1957), and section 22 of the Finance Act, 1962 (No. 15 of 1962), hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Imposition of Duties (No. 228) (Stamp Duty on Certain Instruments) Order, 1977.

2. This Order shall not have effect with respect to any instrument executed before the date of its making.

3. A contract or agreement for the sale of any leasehold interest in any immovable property shall, if—

(a) the purchaser enters into possession of the property before having obtained a transfer, duly stamped, of such interest, and

(b) a transfer of such interest made in pursuance of the contract or agreement is not duly stamped within the period of 9 months from the first execution of the contract or agreement or such longer period as the Revenue Commissioners may specify in writing, being a period which they consider reasonable in all the circumstances of the case,

be charged with the same ad valorem stamp duty, to be paid by the purchaser, as if it were an actual transfer on sale of the leasehold interest contracted or agreed to be sold, and where the ad valorem stamp duty charged on the contract or agreement has been duly paid in conformity with this Article—

(i) the transfer of the said leasehold interest made in pursuance of the contract or agreement shall not be chargeable with any duty,

(ii) the Revenue Commissioners, upon application, either shall denote the payment of the said duty upon the transfer, or shall transfer it thereto upon production of the contract or agreement duly stamped, and

(iii) the said duty shall be returned where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the contract or agreement has been rescinded or annulled.

4. Section 74 of the Finance (1909—10) Act, 1910, is hereby amended by the insertion in subsection (5) after "except where marriage is the consideration" of "and it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the conveyance or transfer is for the benefit of a party to the marriage or of a party to and issue of the marriage" and the said subsection (5), as so amended, is set out in the Table to this Article.

TABLE.

(5) Any conveyance or transfer (not being a disposition made in favour of a purchaser or incumbrancer or other person in good faith and for valuable consideration) shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition inter vivos, and (except where marriage is the consideration and it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the conveyance or transfer is for the benefit of a party to the marriage or of a party to and issue of the marriage) the consideration for any conveyance or transfer shall not for this purpose be deemed to be valuable consideration where the Commissioners are of opinion that by reason of the inadequacy of the sum paid as consideration or other circumstances the conveyance or transfer confers a substantial benefit on the person to whom the property is conveyed or transferred.

5. This Order shall be construed together as one with the Stamp Act, 1891, and the enactments amending or extending that Act.

6. The duty imposed by this Order is hereby placed under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Government, this 1st day of April, 1977.

LIAM MAC COSGAIR,

Taoiseach.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order provides for—

(1) the charging of stamp duty on contracts for the sale of leasehold interests in immovable property in certain cases where the purchasers enter into possession before having obtained transfers of the interests, and

(2) the confining of the exemption from stamp duty of transfers of property in consideration of marriage to cases where the transfers are for the benefit of a party to the marriage or of a party to and issue of the marriage.

This Order comes into operation on 1st April, 1977.