Finance (No. 2) Act, 2000

Amendment of Chapter 2 of Part 7 of Principal Act.

4.—Chapter 2 of Part 7 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 92:

“Residential property owner occupier relief.

92A.—(1) The amount of stamp duty chargeable under or by reference to paragraphs (1) to (6) of 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’ or clauses (i) to (vi) of paragraph (3)(a) of the Heading ‘LEASE’, as the case may be, in Schedule 1 on any instrument to which this section applies shall be reduced, where paragraph (1) or clause (i) applies, to nil, and where—

(a) paragraph (2) or clause (ii) applies, to an amount equal to three-ninths,

(b) paragraph (3) or clause (iii) applies, to an amount equal to four-ninths,

(c) paragraph (4) or clause (iv) applies, to an amount equal to five-ninths,

(d) paragraph (5) or clause (v) applies, to an amount equal to six-ninths,

(e) paragraph (6) or clause (vi) applies, to an amount equal to seven and one half-ninths,

of the amount which would otherwise have been chargeable but where the amount so obtained is a fraction of £1 that amount shall be rounded up to the nearest £.

(2) This section shall apply to—

(a) any instrument to which section 92 applies, or

(b) any instrument, other than one to which section 92 applies, which contains a statement, in such form as the Commissioners may specify, certifying that—

(i) the instrument gives effect to the purchase of a dwellinghouse or apartment, and

(ii) until the expiration of the period of 5 years commencing on the date of the execution of the instrument or the subsequent sale (other than a sale the contract for which, if it were a written conveyance, would not, apart from section 82, be charged with full ad valorem duty or a sale to a company under the control of the vendor or of any person entitled to a beneficial interest in the dwellinghouse or apartment immediately prior to the sale or to a company which would, in relation to a notional gift of shares in that company taken, immediately prior to the sale, by any person so entitled, be under the control of the donee or successor within the meaning of section 16 of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Act, 1976 , irrespective of the shares the subject matter of the notional gift) of the dwellinghouse or apartment concerned, whichever event first occurs, that dwellinghouse or apartment will be occupied as the only or principal place of residence of the purchaser, or if there be more than one purchaser, of any one or more of the purchasers or of some other person in right of the purchaser or, if there be more than one purchaser, of some other person in right of any one or more of the purchasers and that no person, other than by virtue of a title prior to that of the purchaser, will derive any rent or payment in the nature of rent for the use of that dwellinghouse or apartment, or of any part of it, during that period.

(3) Where subsection (1) applies to an instrument and at any time during the period referred to in section 92(1)(b)(ii) or in subsection (2)(b)(ii) of this section, some person, other than by virtue of a title prior to that of the purchaser, derives any rent or payment in the nature of rent for the use of the dwellinghouse or apartment concerned, or of any part of it, the purchaser, or where there be more than one purchaser, each such purchaser, shall—

(a) jointly and severally become liable to pay to the Commissioners a penalty equal to the difference between the amount of the duty which would have been charged in the first instance if the dwellinghouse or apartment had been conveyed or transferred or leased by an instrument to which subsection (1) had not applied and the amount of duty which was actually charged together with interest on that amount charged at a rate of 1 per cent per month or part of a month from the date when the rent or payment is first received to the date the penalty is remitted, and

(b) the person who receives the rent or payment shall, within 6 months after the date of the payment, notify the payment to the Commissioners on a form provided, or approved of, by them for the purposes of this section, unless that person is already aware that the Commissioners have already received such a notification from another source.

(4) Where the instrument is one to which this section and section 92 applies—

(a) the reference in subsection (3) to the amount of duty which would have been charged in the first instance shall be construed as a reference to the duty which would have been charged had the relief under section 92 continued to apply, and

(b) the reference to the amount of duty which was actually charged in subsection (2)(a) of section 92 shall be construed as a reference to the duty which would have been charged had the relief under this section been denied,

and the penalty referred to in subsection (3) shall be in addition to any penalty payable under section 92.

(5) Notwithstanding subsection (2), subsection (1) shall not apply unless the consideration for the sale or lease concerned which is attributable to residential property is wholly attributable to residential property which would otherwise qualify for relief under this section or where the sale or lease concerned forms part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions unless the aggregate consideration for that larger transaction or series of transactions which is attributable to residential property is wholly attributable to residential property which would otherwise qualify for relief under this section.

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (2), this section shall not apply to an instrument to which section 92B applies.

Residential property first time purchaser relief.

92B.—(1) In this section ‘first time purchaser’ means—

(a) a person, or

(b) as respects instruments executed on or after 27 June 2000, a person, being an individual,

who, at the time of the execution of the instrument to which this section applies, has not, either individually or jointly with any other person or persons, previously purchased (other than the purchase of a leasehold interest by way of grant or assignment for any term not exceeding one year), or previously built—

(i) directly or indirectly on his or her own behalf, or

(ii) as respects instruments executed on or after 27 June 2000, in a fiduciary capacity,

another dwellinghouse or apartment or a part of another dwellinghouse or apartment and for the purposes of this definition—

(I) any dwellinghouse or apartment taken under a conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition within the meaning of section 30 of the Principal Act shall be deemed to have been taken by way of purchase where that conveyance or transfer was executed on or after 22 June 2000, and

(II) any part of a dwellinghouse or apartment taken under a conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition within the meaning of section 30 of the Principal Act shall be deemed to have been taken by way of purchase where that conveyance or transfer was executed on or after 27 June 2000.

(2) The amount of stamp duty chargeable under or by reference to paragraphs (1) to (6) of 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’ or clauses (i) to (vi) of paragraph (3)(a) of the Heading ‘LEASE’, as the case may be, in Schedule 1 on any instrument to which this section applies shall be reduced, where paragraph (1) or (2) or clause (i) or (ii) applies, to nil, and where—

(a) paragraph (3) or clause (iii) applies, to an amount equal to three-ninths,

(b) paragraph (4) or clause (iv) applies, to an amount equal to three and three quarter-ninths,

(c)paragraph (5) or clause (v) applies, to an amount equal to four and one half-ninths,

(d) paragraph (6) or clause (vi) applies, to an amount equal to seven and one half-ninths,

of the amount which would otherwise have been chargeable but where the amount so obtained is a fraction of £1 that amount shall be rounded up to the nearest £.

(3) This section shall apply to—

(a) any instrument to which section 92 applies and which contains a statement, in such form as the Commissioners may specify, certifying that the purchaser, or where there is more than one purchaser, each and every one of the purchasers, is a first time purchaser, or

(b) any instrument, other than one to which section 92 applies, which contains a statement, in such form as the Commissioners may specify, certifying that the purchaser, or where there is more than one purchaser, each and every one of the purchasers, is a first time purchaser, and that—

(i) the instrument gives effect to the purchase of a dwellinghouse or apartment, and

(ii) until the expiration of the period of 5 years commencing on the date of the execution of the instrument or the subsequent sale (other than a sale the contract for which, if it were a written conveyance, would not, apart from section 82, be charged with full ad valorem duty or a sale to a company under the control of the vendor or of any person entitled to a beneficial interest in the dwellinghouse or apartment immediately prior to the sale or to a company which would, in relation to a notional gift of shares in that company taken, immediately prior to the sale, by any person so entitled, be under the control of the donee or successor within the meaning of section 16 of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Act, 1976 , irrespective of the shares the subject matter of the notional gift) of the dwellinghouse or apartment concerned, whichever event first occurs, that dwellinghouse or apartment will be occupied as the only or principal place of residence of the purchaser, or if there be more than one purchaser, of any one or more of the purchasers or of some other person in right of the purchaser or, if there be more than one purchaser, of some other person in right of any one or more of the purchasers and that no person, other than by virtue of a title prior to that of the purchaser, will derive any rent or payment in the nature of rent for the use of that dwellinghouse or apartment, or of any part of it, during that period.

(4) Where subsection (2) applies to an instrument and at any time during the period referred to in section 92(1)(b)(ii) or in subsection (3)(b)(ii) of this section, some person, other than by virtue of a title prior to that of the purchaser, derives any rent or payment in the nature of rent for the use of the dwellinghouse or apartment concerned, or of any part of it, the purchaser, or where there be more than one purchaser, each such purchaser, shall—

(a) jointly and severally become liable to pay to the Commissioners a penalty equal to the difference between the amount of the duty which would have been charged in the first instance if the dwellinghouse or apartment had been conveyed or transferred or leased by an instrument to which subsection (2) had not applied and the amount of duty which was actually charged together with interest on that amount charged at a rate of 1 per cent per month or part of a month from the date when the rent or payment is first received to the date the penalty is remitted, and

(b) the person who receives the rent or payment shall, within 6 months after the date of the payment, notify the payment to the Commissioners on a form provided, or approved of, by them for the purposes of this section, unless that person is already aware that the Commissioners have already received such a notification from another source.

(5) Where the instrument is one to which this section and section 92 applies—

(a) the reference in subsection (4) to the amount of duty which would have been charged in the first instance shall be construed as a reference to the duty which would have been charged had the relief under section 92 continued to apply, and

(b) the reference to the amount of duty which was actually charged in subsection (2)(a) of section 92 shall be construed as a reference to the duty which would have been charged had the relief under this section been denied,

and the penalty referred to in subsection (4) shall be in addition to any penalty payable under section 92.

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (3), subsection (2) shall not apply to an instrument which gives effect to a sale or lease of more than one unit of residential property or where the sale or lease concerned forms part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions comprising more than one unit of residential property.

(7) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a trustee of a trust to which section 189A of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 , applies shall be deemed to be a first time purchaser for the purposes of the definition in subsection (1), in respect of a conveyance or transfer including a conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition within the meaning of section 30 of the Principal Act, to that trustee of that trust, of a dwellinghouse or apartment or a part of a dwellinghouse or apartment, subject to—

(a) where there is only one beneficiary of that trust, this subsection applying to one such conveyance or transfer only, being the first such conveyance or transfer executed on or after the date of the establishment of that trust, and

(b) where there is more than one beneficiary of that trust, this subsection applying to as many conveyances or transfers, executed on or after the date of the establishment of that trust, as there are beneficiaries of that trust for whose benefit any such conveyance or transfer is made.

(8) (a) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a spouse, to a marriage the subject of a decree of judicial separation or a decree of divorce, shall be deemed to be a first time purchaser for the purposes of the definition in subsection (1), in respect of a conveyance or transfer including a conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition within the meaning of section 30 of the Principal Act, to that spouse after the granting of that decree, of a dwellinghouse or apartment or a part of a dwellinghouse or apartment but only in respect of the first such conveyance or transfer, provided at thedate of execution of the instrument giving effect to such conveyance or transfer—

(i) that spouse is not beneficially entitled to an interest in the dwellinghouse or apartment or that part of the dwellinghouse or apartment referred to in paragraph (b), and

(ii) that the other spouse to that marriage continues to occupy, since the date of the decree, as his or her only or main residence, the dwellinghouse or apartment most recently acquired prior to the date of the decree or that part of the dwellinghouse or apartment most recently acquired prior to the date of the decree which was the only or main residence of both spouses at some time prior to the date of the decree.

(b) In this subsection—

‘decree of divorce’ means a decree under section 5 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act, 1996 , or any decree to like effect that was granted under the law of a country or jurisdiction other than the State and is recognised in the State;

‘decree of judicial separation’ means a decree under section 3 of the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act, 1989 , or any decree to like effect that was granted under the law of a country or jurisdiction other than the State and is recognised in the State.”.