Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I move:

(1) THAT for the purposes of stamp duty charged by virtue of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 (No. 31 of 1999) Schedule 1 to that Act be amended –

(a) 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.", by inserting the following after paragraph (4):

"(4A) Where the amount or value of the consideration for the sale is wholly or partly attributable to property which is not residential property ... 2 per cent of the consideration which is attributable to property which is not residential property but where the calculation results in an amount which is not a multiple of €1 the amount so calculated shall be rounded down to the nearest €.",

(b) 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.", by deleting paragraphs (7) to (13), and

(c) under the Heading "LEASE.", by substituting the following for subparagraph (b) of paragraph (3):

"(b) where the consideration, or any part of the consideration (other than rent), moving either to the lessor or to any other person, consists of any money, stock or security, and the amount or value of such consideration is wholly or partly attributable to property which is not residential property ... 2 per cent of the consideration which is attributable to property which is not residential property but where the calculation results in an amount which is not a multiple of €1 the amount so calculated shall be rounded down to the nearest €.".

(2) THAT, subject to paragraph (3) of this Resolution, paragraph (1) of this Resolution shall have effect as respects instruments executed on or after 7 December 2011.

(3) THAT paragraph (1) of this Resolution shall not apply as respects any instrument executed before 1 July 2012 where –

(a) the effect of the application of that paragraph would be to increase the duty otherwise chargeable on the instrument, and

(b) the instrument contains a statement in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may specify, certifying that the instrument was executed solely in pursuance of a binding contract entered into before 7 December 2011.

(4) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).

This Resolution provides for changes to the stamp duty payable on non-residential property. At present varying rates of stamp duty apply to such property and I am simplifying the system to provide for a low single rate of stamp duty at the rate of 2%. The new rate will apply to instruments executed from tomorrow onwards.

There will be few cases where additional duty would be payable after this change, but to cater for them I am including a transitional provision whereby, if a binding contract to purchase a non-residential property has been entered on or before today, 6 December 2011, and the transfer of the property is executed before 1 July 2012, the stamp duty payable will not increase.

The cost of this measure is estimated at €64 million in 2012 and in each subsequent year.

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