Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Minister for Finance if examinations will be made into the further charge of €40, if a credit card account is closing which applies from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 inclusive; and if he will accept that this is a double charge on the account; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25079/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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A person who holds a credit card account with a credit card provider pays stamp duty on that credit card account once for each 12 month period ending on 1 April each year. Where a person cancels a credit card account within a 12 month period he/she pays the charge at the time of cancellation. This means that, in respect of any credit card account, an individual will only pay once for the year ending on the following 1 April. Where the individual closes a credit card after 1 April in any year, a stamp duty charge of €40 will arise, as the account has been maintained by the financial institution during the year ending on the following 1 April. This is consistent with applying a stamp duty charge for a year or part of a year for which the credit card account is held.

In addition, Section 128 of the Finance Act 2005 contained measures to eliminate a double stamp duty charge for the same year on the switching of financial cards. Where a credit card account is closed in the tax year the financial institution will issue a Letter of Closure to the holder of the account stating that the stamp duty has been paid for that year. Where the individual opens a new credit card account at any point in that tax year, the new financial institution, upon receipt of the Letter of Closure, will provide that the stamp duty on the new credit card, normally charged in the following April, will not be applied.