Finance (No. 2) Act 2008

Electronic stamping of instruments: further matters.

79.— (1) The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 1—

(i) by inserting the following after the definition of “ accountable person ”:

“ ‘ approved person ’ and ‘authorised person’ shall each be construed in accordance with section 917G of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ;”,

(ii) by inserting the following after the definitions of “ ‘ executed’ and ‘execution’ ”:

“ ‘filer’, in relation to an instrument in respect of which a paper return is delivered to the Commissioners, means the person who would be the approved person or, as the case may be, the authorised person had the paper return been an electronic return;”,

and

(iii) by inserting the following after the definition of “ money”:

“ ‘paper return’ means a return in paper form that satisfies the requirements of an electronic return and is processed by the Commissioners through the e-stamping system;”,

and

(b) by inserting the following after section 8:

“Penalties: returns.

8A.— Where, in relation to an instrument, an approved person, authorised person or a filer, as the case may be, delivers an electronic return or a paper return, to the Commissioners which does not reflect the facts and circumstances of which the person is aware, affecting the liability of such instrument to duty or the amount of the duty with which such instrument is chargeable that are required by the Commissioners to be disclosed on such return, then such person shall incur a penalty of €3,000.”.

(2) The Finance Act 2008 is amended in section 111(1)—

(a) in paragraph (a)(iii) (which inserts a definition of “ stamp certificate ” into section 1 of the Principal Act) by substituting the following for the said definition of “ stamp cer tificate ”:

“ ‘ stamp certificate ’ means—

(a) a certificate issued electronically by the Commissioners by means of the e-stamping system, or

(b) a certificate processed electronically by the Commissioners through the e-stamping system and issued by them in paper form;”,

(b) in paragraph (c) (which amends section 8(2) of the Principal Act)—

(i) by substituting “such statement (other than where the Commissioners are required to express their opinion in relation to the chargeability of the instrument to duty in accordance with section 20) is not required to be delivered” for “such statement is not required to be delivered”, and

(ii) by substituting “retained by the accountable person for a period of 6 years” for “retained for a period of 4 years”,

in the said amendment to section 8(2),

and

(c) in paragraph (f) (which inserts section 17A into the Principal Act)—

(i) in paragraph (d) of the said section 17A—

(I) by substituting “electronic return or a paper return” for “electronic return”, and

(II) by deleting the word “otherwise”,

and

(ii) in paragraph (f)(i) of the said section 17A—

(I) by substituting “interest and penalty” for “penalty”, and

(II) by substituting “electronic return or paper return” for “electronic return”.

(3) (a) Subsection (1) of this section comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Finance may by order or orders appoint and different days may be appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(b) The amendments (effected by subsection (2)) to sections 1, 8(2) and 17A of the Principal Act are deemed to have been made as on and from the passing of the Finance Act 2008 and shall come into operation in accordance with section 111(2) of the Finance Act 2008 .