What is Stamp Duty Payable On?

Stamp duty is a tax on documents and mostly arises on documents transferring an interest in property, e.g. land and buildings, shares, business assets, etc., from one party to another. Stamp duty also arises on certain policies of insurance and on certain financial cards and instruments.

The top rate of stamp duty on transfers of commercial property and business assets has been reduced from 6% to 2% in Budget 2012 for transfers taking place on or after 7 December 2011.
See here for full details of the stamp duty rates on transfers of commercial property and business assets.

 

Transfers from 7 December 2011 2%

Stamp duty on residential property also peaks at 2%. See below for full details of the stamp duty rates on residential property.

Consideration / value up to €1,000,000 1%
Any excess over €1,000,000 2%

Stamp duty of 1% is payable on transfers of shares in Irish incorporated companies. This compares to a 0.5% rate in the UK and 0% in many EU jurisdictions. Although stamp duty is a transaction tax it isn’t actually triggered by a transaction but is triggered by the documents used to effect the transaction. So if no document is required, stamp duty should not arise.