Finance (No. 2) Act, 1998

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Relief from stamp duty for certain new houses or apartments.

14.—(1) (a) Where, in relation to an instrument to which this subsection applies—

(i) the instrument gives effect to the purchase of a dwellinghouse or apartment upon the erection thereof and section 49 of the Finance Act, 1969 , and section 112 (as amended by this Act) of the Finance Act, 1990 , do not apply, the consideration (other than rent) for the sale shall for the purposes of ad valorem duty be treated as being reduced by 75 per cent, and

(ii) the instrument is one to which section 112 (as amended by this Act) of the Finance Act, 1990 , applies, that section shall apply to that instrument as if the following paragraphs were substituted for paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of that section and paragraph (b) of section 12 did not apply:

“(a) in the case of such sale, under 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’ in the First Schedule (as amended by the Finance Act, 1970 , and subsequent enactments) to the Stamp Act, 1891, as if the property concerned were residential property on an amount which is the greater of—

(i) any consideration paid in respect of the sale of that land, and

(ii) 25 per cent of the aggregate of the consideration at subparagraph (i) and the consideration paid, or to be paid, in respect of the building of the dwellinghouse or apartment on that land;

(b) in the case of such lease, under the Heading ‘LEASE’ in the First Schedule (as amended by the Finance Act, 1970 , and subsequent enactments) to the Stamp Act, 1891, as if the property concerned were residential property on an amount which is the greater of—

(i) any consideration (other than rent) paid in respect of the lease of that land, and

(ii) 25 per cent of the aggregate of the consideration at subparagraph (i) and the consideration paid, or to be paid, in respect of the building of the dwellinghouse or apartment on that land.”.

(b) This subsection applies to an instrument which contains a statement, in such form as the Commissioners may specify, certifying that—

(i) the instrument—

(I) gives effect to the purchase of a dwellinghouse or apartment upon the erection thereof and that section 49 of the Finance Act, 1969 , and section 112 (as amended by this Act) of the Finance Act, 1990 , do not apply, or

(II) is one to which section 112 (as amended by this Act) of the Finance Act, 1990 , applies,

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 50 of the Finance Act, 1979 , 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.”.

(2) Where subsection (1) applies to an instrument and at any time during the period referred to in paragraph (b)(ii) of that subsection, 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 fine 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 fine 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.