Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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129. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will suspend the deduction of stamp duty on debit and credit cards for persons in receipt of State welfare benefits including unemployment or Covid-related payment, sick pay, lone parents benefits, carer's allowance and benefit given that a deduction of almost €30 amounts to 14% of a jobseekers’ or pandemic unemployment payment of €203; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37508/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Stamp duty is levied on financial cards, charge cards and credit card accounts. The financial institution issuing the card collects the duty from cardholders on behalf of Revenue, and charge the card holder’s bank, credit or charge card account with the stamp duty for which they are liable annually.

The current regime was introduced in Budget 2016/Finance Act 2015 and is set out in Sections 123B (Cash, combined and debit cards) and 124 (Credit cards and charge cards) of SDCA 1999 (as amended).

The stamp duty rate for ATM cards (also known as cash cards) is €0.12 per ATM withdrawal to a maximum of €2.50 per card for each 12 month period.

The rate for combined cards (cards that are both ATM & debit cards) is €0.12 per ATM withdrawal to a maximum of €2.50 per card where only the ATM function is used during the year.

The rate where both functions are used in a year is a maximum of €5.00 per card, as the debit function incurs a flat rate €2.50 stamp duty if used even once in the year.

Stamp duties arising against these cards is collected in arrears, and stamp duty for the year in usually charged to the card holder’s account on 31 December of that year.  

If the combined card is not used for any ATM withdrawals or debit card transactions in a year then no stamp duty will apply.

The rate for credit cards is €30 per year per credit card account. The charge for credit cards is for the account and not the number of cards issued to that account.

The rate for charge cards is €30 per year for each charge card issued to an account.

Financial institutions will generally collect Stamp Duty on credit and charge cards on 1 April, in arrears, unless the account was closed during the preceding 12 months during the year. The tax year for credit cards normally runs from 2 April to the following 1 April.

The stamp duty on credit cards is not linked to usage in any way. Therefore, where a credit card has not been used over the course of the applicable tax year, the €30 stamp duty will be applied at the end of that period. This means that, a cardholder of a credit card account is liable to the €30 stamp duty, irrespective of usage of the card concerned.

As part of an ongoing and evolving package of measures which is being taken by the Government in order to mitigate the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on individuals and businesses, I announced the deferral of the collection date for the stamp duty on credit cards from 1 April 2020 to 1 July 2020 on 18 March this year.  It is anticipated that the collection dates will revert to normal (1 April) next year. The stamp duty collected on 1 July 2020 was in respect of the period 2 April 2019 to 1 April 2020.

The focus of Government in response to the pandemic has been around income supports and business supports to assist employees, households and businesses.

The Revenue Commissioners have also been proactive in working with taxpayers to resolve their tax payments difficulties in the current circumstances.The positive actions taken include the suspension of interest and enforcement actions, as well as deferral of payment dates such as the extension of the date for deduction of Local Property Tax for customers who use annual debit payment options and the collection date for stamp duty on credit cards.  Where the payment or collection date for a tax is deferred, the assessment period remains the same and is provided for in the relevant tax legislation.

I have no plans to suspend or defer the collection of the stamp duty on ATM or combined cards, or to further defer or suspend the €30 stamp duty on credit cards.