Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 242: To ask the Minister for Finance the justification for the imposition of a stamp duty on banks for credit and laser cards; and the action he has taken to ensure that this tax is not passed on to customers. [14453/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Stamp duty exists on various financial cards in order to provide Exchequer revenue. The stamp duty on cheques has existed for many years and when electronic means of money transfers were subsequently introduced, stamp duty was gradually extended to these products to ensure that the stamp duty from cheques was not eroded. The stamp duty is payable by the financial institutions who are entitled to recover the amounts paid from their customers.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 243: To ask the Minister for Finance if a person donates a building site to a family member for their own personal use as a site for a personal family home, the transaction will be effected by taxation criteria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14456/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that a transfer of a building site, in the circumstances outlined, would have implications for a number of taxes. The person concerned would be well advised to seek specific advice from a tax professional. The general practice is as follows.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT)

The transfer of a site is a chargeable occasion for the transferor. As the parties are connected the disposal proceeds are taken as the market value of the site at the date of transfer.

The CGT payable is calculated by reference to the difference between the disposal proceeds and the cost of the site after allowable adjustments for inflation and the costs of acquisition and disposal. The first €1,270 of an individual's annual gains is exempt. The balance is chargeable at 20%.

Relief from CGT is available where a parent transfers a site to a child to enable the child construct a dwelling house for use as his or her only or main residence. For this relief the value of the site must not exceed €254,000 and the size of the site must not exceed 1 acre (excluding the area of the house).

A separate and distinct relief may also apply where an individual, aged 55 years or over, disposes of land which he/she has owned and used for farming or a trade throughout the period of 10 years ending on the disposal. Both reliefs are subject to conditions and in certain circumstances may be clawed back.

Capital Acquisitions Tax (Gift and Inheritance Tax)

The transfer of a site is a gift made to that family member and whether gift tax arises on that gift depends on the circumstances.

For the purpose of Gift and Inheritance Tax, the relationship between the person who provided the gift or inheritance (the disponer) and the person who received the gift or inheritance (the beneficiary), determines the maximum tax-free threshold- known as the " Group threshold". Apart from the total exemption of transfers between spouses, there are three Group thresholds based on the relationship of the beneficiary to the disponer and these Group thresholds are indexed annually by reference to the Consumer Price Index as published by the Central Statistics Office.

The indexed Group thresholds for 2007 are as follows:

Group A: €496,824. This applies to gifts/inheritances received by a child, a stepchild and a foster child from a parent. Group A also applies in certain circumstances to gifts/inheritances received by a parent from a child and by a grandchild from a grandparent.

Group B: €49,682. This applies to gifts/ inheritances received by brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, grandchildren and parents.

Group C: €24,841. This applies to gifts/ inheritances received by a beneficiary who does not come under Group A or B. Any other gifts/inheritances that might have been received by the beneficiary from within the same Group since 5 December 1991 will also be taken into account when applying the threshold for the purposes of calculating the gift/inheritance tax on the donation of the building site. If the total value of all gifts and inheritances received by the beneficiary since this date from within the same Group is above the threshold figure, then a 20% rate of gift/ inheritance tax will apply on the excess over the threshold figure.

Finally, where both Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) both arise on a gift of an asset, the CGT paid can be allowed as a credit or offset against the CAT liability.

Stamp Duty

A gift of a building site attracts a stamp duty liability on the basis of the market value of the site transferred. The normal stamp duty payable is reduced by 50% where the gift is between family members who are related to a certain degree (e.g. parents, children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews).

Section 83A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 provides for an exemption from stamp duty where a parent transfers a site to a child to enable the child construct a dwelling house for use as his or her only or main residence. As is the case with Capital Gains Tax, the value of the site must not exceed €254,000 and the size of the site must not exceed 1 acre (excluding the area of the house).

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 244: To ask the Minister for Finance if, due to the delay in on-farm inspections in order to approve the payment of grants, he will take action to alleviate the necessity of farmers having to submit the original invoice in respect of the VAT refunds (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14553/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The position is that claims made by unregistered farmers for refund of VAT are made under the Value Added Tax (Refund of Tax) (No. 25) Order, 1993.

Under this Order farmers are required to submit original invoices in support of the claim. However, as explained in the claim form, where farmers want to have the original invoices returned to them, they should also enclose a set of photocopies. I understand from the Revenue Commissioners that, when requested, the original invoices are returned without delay.