Finance Act 2017

Miscellaneous stamp duty amendments

63. The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 1(1), by inserting the following definition:

“ ‘Revenue officer’ means an officer of the Commissioners;”,

(b) in section 14A, by substituting the following for subsection (3):

“(3) Where an accountable person fails to cause the delivery of an electronic return or a paper return in relation to an instrument on or before the specified return date, any amount of stamp duty chargeable which, apart from this section, is contained in an assessment of stamp duty made under section 20 shall be increased by an amount (in this subsection referred to as a ‘surcharge’) equal to—

(a) 5 per cent of that amount of duty, subject to a maximum surcharge of €12,695, where the return is delivered before the expiry of 2 months from the specified return date, and

(b) 10 per cent of that amount of duty, subject to a maximum surcharge of €63,485, where the return is not delivered before the expiry of 2 months from the specified return date.”,

(c) in section 20, by inserting the following after subsection (9):

“(10) An assessment of stamp duty shall, where subsection (3) of section 14A applies, include any surcharge within the meaning of that subsection.”,

(d) in section 134A, by inserting the following after subsection (13):

“(14) Subject to section 1077D(2) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , proceedings for the recovery of any penalty under this section shall not be out of time by reason that they are commenced after the time allowed by section 1063 of that Act as applied by section 133.”,

(e) by substituting the following for section 158A:

“158A. (1) Subject to subsection (2), any act to be performed or function to be discharged by the Commissioners under this Act may be performed or discharged by any one or more of their officers acting under their authority.

(2) The general delegation referred to in subsection (1) shall not apply in the case of—

(a) the authorisation of Revenue officers to perform any act or function that requires authorisation to be given by the Commissioners, and

(b) the making of regulations under this Act.”,

and

(f) in section 159C(1), by substituting the following for the definition of “relevant period”:

“ ‘relevant period’, in relation to a relevant instrument, means the period of 4 years commencing on—

(a) (i) subject to paragraph (b), the date the instrument was stamped by the Commissioners,

(ii) the date the statement was delivered to the Commissioners, or

(iii) the date the instruction was made,

or

(b) the latest date on which all of the conditions were required to be satisfied for a relief or exemption;”.