Global Daily Tax News, Ireland Substantially Amends Stamp Duty Manual, (Dec 31, 2025)

The Irish Revenue has overhauled its Stamp Duties guidance following significant changes to the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act (SDCA) 1999 effected by the 2025 Finance Act.

Specifically, the Manual has been updated as follows:

Part 5: Sections 31A, 3 ...

The Irish Revenue has overhauled its Stamp Duties guidance following significant changes to the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act (SDCA) 1999 effected by the 2025 Finance Act.

Specifically, the Manual has been updated as follows:

Part 5: Sections 31A, 31B and 50A of the SDCA were amended to provide that the chargeable instrument referred to in those sections, i.e. the contract or agreement for sale (Section 31A), licence agreement (Section 31B), or agreement for a lease (Section 50A), will be deemed to be executed on the date on which the instrument becomes chargeable with Stamp Duty under those sections, i.e. the date on which the 25 percent payment threshold is reached;
Part 5: Section 31E of the SDCA provides for a higher rate of duty where a person acquires 10 or more individual residential units during any 12-month period. Section 31E(2) was amended to clarify that where a contract or agreement for sale referred to in Section 31A or an agreement for a lease referred to in Section 50A comes within scope of Section 31E, the date of acquisition of the residential property concerned will be the date on which the chargeable instrument is deemed to be executed in accordance with Section 31A or 50A, as the case may be;
Part 7: Updates have been made to reflect Finance Act 2025 changes and to include additional guidance on the application of Section 83B of the SDCA, "Certain family farm transfers";
Part 9 has been updated to reflect Finance Act 2025 changes to Section 125C and 126AB. It has also been updated to reflect that guidance on Sections 123B, 123D, and 124 of the SDCA is now contained in Stamp Duty Manual Part 9: Sections 123B, 124, and 123D – Levies on financial cards and bills of exchange;
Part 9 has also been updated on the imposition of stamp duty on certain health insurance contracts entered into between health insurers and their customers under Section 125A of the SDCA. The guidance document has been updated to include the changes to the specified rates as introduced by the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2025 and to note that more detailed guidance on Finance Act 2025 changes to Section 125A, which are to come into operation on April 1, 2027, will be issued at a later date; and
Section 126AB: This guidance, which discusses the further levy on certain financial institutions, has been updated to reflect the Finance Act 2025 extension of the levy to the year 2026. For the year 2026, the levy will be applied at the rate of 0.1025 percent on the value of deposits held by each bank on December 31, 2024, to the extent that such deposits are "eligible deposits" within the meaning of the European Union (Deposit Guarantee Schemes) Regulations 2015.

Further, Finance Act 2025 provided for the introduction of a new exemption from Stamp Duty on certain transfers of stocks and marketable securities, provided for by Section 86B of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999.

A transfer of relevant securities will qualify for the exemption if:

at the date of execution of the transfer, the relevant securities are admitted to trading to a regulated market, a multilateral trading facility (MTF) or a market outside the European Union which is equivalent to a regulated market or MTF;
the closing market capitalization of the entity that issued the relevant securities was less than EUR1bn as of December 1 in the previous year; and
the transfer is executed during an exemption period, the start and end dates of which are determined by when a valid notification in respect of the market capitalization was made to Revenue.

Where the relevant securities were admitted to trading after December 1 of the previous year, the exemption may still apply if the expected market capitalization of the issuer upon admission to trading of the relevant securities was under EUR1bn.

The exemption will apply to a transfer of relevant securities executed between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2030, where the qualifying conditions are met.

Detailed guidance on the application of Section 86B is now available in Stamp Duty Manual Part 7: Section 86B - Market capitalisation exemption.

Global Daily Tax News, Ireland Substantially Amends Stamp Duty Manual, (Dec 31, 2025)

The Irish Revenue has overhauled its Stamp Duties guidance following significant changes to the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act (SDCA) 1999 effected by the 2025 Finance Act.

Specifically, the Manual has been updated as follows:

Part 5: Sections 31A, 3 ...

The Irish Revenue has overhauled its Stamp Duties guidance following significant changes to the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act (SDCA) 1999 effected by the 2025 Finance Act.

Specifically, the Manual has been updated as follows:

Part 5: Sections 31A, 31B and 50A of the SDCA were amended to provide that the chargeable instrument referred to in those sections, i.e. the contract or agreement for sale (Section 31A), licence agreement (Section 31B), or agreement for a lease (Section 50A), will be deemed to be executed on the date on which the instrument becomes chargeable with Stamp Duty under those sections, i.e. the date on which the 25 percent payment threshold is reached;
Part 5: Section 31E of the SDCA provides for a higher rate of duty where a person acquires 10 or more individual residential units during any 12-month period. Section 31E(2) was amended to clarify that where a contract or agreement for sale referred to in Section 31A or an agreement for a lease referred to in Section 50A comes within scope of Section 31E, the date of acquisition of the residential property concerned will be the date on which the chargeable instrument is deemed to be executed in accordance with Section 31A or 50A, as the case may be;
Part 7: Updates have been made to reflect Finance Act 2025 changes and to include additional guidance on the application of Section 83B of the SDCA, "Certain family farm transfers";
Part 9 has been updated to reflect Finance Act 2025 changes to Section 125C and 126AB. It has also been updated to reflect that guidance on Sections 123B, 123D, and 124 of the SDCA is now contained in Stamp Duty Manual Part 9: Sections 123B, 124, and 123D – Levies on financial cards and bills of exchange;
Part 9 has also been updated on the imposition of stamp duty on certain health insurance contracts entered into between health insurers and their customers under Section 125A of the SDCA. The guidance document has been updated to include the changes to the specified rates as introduced by the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2025 and to note that more detailed guidance on Finance Act 2025 changes to Section 125A, which are to come into operation on April 1, 2027, will be issued at a later date; and
Section 126AB: This guidance, which discusses the further levy on certain financial institutions, has been updated to reflect the Finance Act 2025 extension of the levy to the year 2026. For the year 2026, the levy will be applied at the rate of 0.1025 percent on the value of deposits held by each bank on December 31, 2024, to the extent that such deposits are "eligible deposits" within the meaning of the European Union (Deposit Guarantee Schemes) Regulations 2015.

A transfer of relevant securities will qualify for the exemption if:

at the date of execution of the transfer, the relevant securities are admitted to trading to a regulated market, a multilateral trading facility (MTF) or a market outside the European Union which is equivalent to a regulated market or MTF;
the closing market capitalization of the entity that issued the relevant securities was less than EUR1bn as of December 1 in the previous year; and
the transfer is executed during an exemption period, the start and end dates of which are determined by when a valid notification in respect of the market capitalization was made to Revenue.

The exemption will apply to a transfer of relevant securities executed between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2030, where the qualifying conditions are met.

Detailed guidance on the application of Section 86B is now available in Stamp Duty Manual Part 7: Section 86B - Market capitalisation exemption.