Finance Act, 1970

Stamp duty on bills of exchange and promissory notes.

41.—(1) A duty of one new penny shall be substituted for the duty chargeable under the Stamp Act, 1891, on a bill of exchange or promissory note drawn in the State and specified under that heading in the First Schedule to that Act.

(2) The duty on a bill of exchange or a promissory note under subsection (1) of this section may be denoted by an adhesive stamp which is to be cancelled by the person by whom the bill or note is signed before he delivers it out of his hands, custody or power.

(3) Every person who issues, endorses, transfers, negotiates, presents for payment, or pays any bill of exchange or promissory note liable to duty and not being duly stamped shall incur a fine of ten pounds, and the person who takes or receives from any other person any such bill or note either in payment or as a security, or by purchase or otherwise, shall not be entitled to recover thereon, or to make the same available for any purpose whatever: Provided that if any bill of exchange is presented for payment unstamped, the person to whom it is presented may affix thereto an adhesive stamp of one penny in new currency, and cancel the same, as if he had been the drawer of the bill, and may thereupon pay the sum in the bill mentioned, and charge the duty in account against the person by whom the bill was drawn, or deduct the duty from the said sum, and the bill shall, so far as respects the duty, be deemed valid and available. But the foregoing proviso shall not relieve any person from any fine or penalty incurred by him in relation to such bill

(4) In section 57 (1) of the Finance Act, 1958 , the reference to the heading “Bill of Exchange payable on demand” shall be read as if it were a reference to the heading in subsection (1) of this section.

(5) The foregoing provisions of this section shall come into operation on the 15th day of February, 1971.

(6) The duty chargeable under the Stamp Act, 1891, on a bill of exchange or promissory note drawn outside the State and specified under that heading in the First Schedule to that Act shall cease to be chargeable on and from the 1st day of February, 1971.

(7) Section 35 of the Stamp Act, 1891, is hereby repealed with effect on and from the 1st day of February, 1971, and section 38 of the Stamp Act, 1891 and section 31 of the Finance Act, 1961 , are hereby repealed with effect on and from the 15th day of February, 1971.