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31 1999

STAMP DUTIES CONSOLIDATION ACT, 1999

PART 10

Enforcement

Terms on which instruments not duly stamped may be received in evidence.

[SA1891 s14]

127. —(1) On the production of an instrument chargeable with any duty as evidence in any court of civil judicature in any part of the State, or before any arbitrator or referee, notice shall be taken by the judge, arbitrator, or referee of any omission or insufficiency of the stamp on the instrument, and if the instrument is one which may legally be stamped after execution, it may, on payment to the officer of the court whose duty it is to read the instrument, or to the arbitrator or referee, of the amount of the unpaid duty, and the penalty payable on stamping the same, be received in evidence, saving all just exceptions on other grounds.

(2) The officer, or arbitrator, or referee receiving the duty and penalty shall give a receipt for the same, and make an entry in a book kept for that purpose of the payment and of the amount of the payment, and shall communicate to the Commissioners the name or title of the proceeding in which, and of the party from whom, the officer, or arbitrator, or referee, as the case may be, received the duty and penalty, and the date and description of the instrument, and shall pay over to such person as the Commissioners may appoint the money received by such officer, arbitrator or referee, as the case may be, for the duty and penalty.

(3) On production to the Commissioners of any instrument in respect of which any duty or penalty has been paid, together with the receipt, the payment of the duty and penalty shall be denoted on the instrument.

(4) Except as provided for in this section, an instrument executed in any part of the State, or relating, wherever executed, to any property situated, or to any matter or thing done or to be done, in any part of the State, shall not, except in criminal proceedings or in civil proceedings by the Commissioners to recover stamp duty, be given in evidence, or be available for any purpose, unless it is not chargeable with duty or it is duly stamped in accordance with the law in force at the time when it was first executed.

Rolls, books, etc., to be open to inspection.

[SA1891 s16]

128. —(1) In this section “document” includes—

(a) any instrument, roll, book or record,

(b) any record of an entry in a document, and

(c) any information stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical or electronic device, whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in a legible form.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), any person who is a party to any instrument, or who has in his or her custody or under his or her control any document, the inspection of which may tend to secure any duty, or to prove or lead to the discovery of any fraud, negligence, or omission in relation to any duty shall, within 14 days of a request by means of a notice in writing from the Commissioners—

(a) provide such information as the Commissioners deem necessary, and

(b) permit any person authorised by the Commissioners, to inspect any such document and to take such notes, extracts, prints, printouts and copies as such person may deem necessary,

and in case of refusal to so provide or permit by the first-mentioned person, that refusal shall be deemed to constitute a failure by that person to comply with subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (g) of subsection (2) of section 1078 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 , and if the refusal continues after conviction such person shall be guilty of a further offence on every day on which the refusal continues and for each such offence such person shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £100.

(3) It shall be a good defence in a prosecution for an offence under subsection (2) for the accused to show that the accused is required or entitled by law to refuse the request of the Commissioners.

Penalty for enrolling, etc., instrument not duly stamped, etc.

[SA 1891 s17 and s41]

129. —(1) If any person whose office it is to enrol, register, or enter in or on any rolls, books, or records any instrument chargeable with duty, enrols, registers, or enters any such instrument not being duly stamped, such person shall incur a penalty of £500.

(2) A bill of sale which is chargeable to stamp duty shall not be registered under any Act for the time being in force relating to the registration of bills of sale unless the original, duly stamped, is produced to the proper officer.

Assignment of policy of life insurance to be stamped before payment of money assured.

[SA1891 s118; FA 1924 s38(1)]

130. —(1) No assignment of a policy of life insurance which is chargeable to stamp duty shall confer on the assignee named in that assignment, the assignee's executors, administrators, or assigns, any right to sue for the moneys assured or secured by the policy, or to give a valid discharge for the moneys, or any part of the moneys, unless the assignment is duly stamped, and no payment shall be made to any person claiming under any such assignment unless the same is duly stamped.

(2) If any payment is made in contravention of this section, the stamp duty not paid on the assignment, together with the penalty payable on stamping the same, shall be a debt due to the Minister for the benefit of the Central Fund from the person by whom the payment is made and shall be payable to the Commissioners and may (without prejudice to any other mode of recovery of the duty or of the penalty payable on stamping) be sued for and recovered by action, or other appropriate proceeding, at the suit of the Attorney General in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Conditions and agreements as to stamp duty void.

[SA1891 s117]

131. — Every condition of sale framed with the view of precluding objection or requisition on the ground of absence or insufficiency of stamp on any instrument and every contract, arrangement, or undertaking for assuming the liability on account of absence or insufficiency of stamp on any such instrument or indemnifying against such liability, absence, or insufficiency, shall be void.

Application of section 962 of Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997.

[FA1991 s108(1)]

132. Section 962 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 , shall, subject to any necessary modifications, apply to stamp duty in the same manner as it applies to income tax and where that section 962 is exercised with regard to stamp duty it shall be exercised as if stamp duty was a tax to be collected and levied by the Collector-General.

Application of certain provisions relating to penalties under Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997.

[FA1991 s109(1)]

133. — Sections 987(4), 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 1065, 1066 and 1068 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 , shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to a fine or penalty under—

(a) this Act, or

(b) any other enactment providing for fines or penalties in relation to stamp duty,

as if the fine or penalty were a penalty under the Income Tax Acts, and section 22 of the Inland Revenue Regulation Act, 1890, shall not apply in a case to which any of those sections of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 , apply by virtue of this section.

Evidence in proceedings for recovery of stamp duty, etc.

[SA1891 s1(5); FA1926 s39]

134. —(1) In any proceedings in the Circuit Court or the District Court for or in relation to the recovery of stamp duty, additional stamp duty or penalty relating to such duty, an affidavit duly made by an officer of the Commissioners deposing to any of the following matters—

(a) that the assessment of duty was duly made,

(b) that the assessment has become final and conclusive,

(c) that the duty or any specified part of the duty is due and outstanding,

(d) that demand for the payment of the duty has been duly made,

shall be evidence until the contrary is proved of the matters so deposed to.

(2) Where the averments in the affidavit are not disputed by the defendant or respondent, it shall not be necessary for the officer by whom such affidavit was made to attend or give oral evidence at the hearing of the proceedings nor shall it be necessary to produce or put in evidence at the hearing any register, file, book of assessment or other record relating to the duty.

(3) Where any averment in the affidavit is disputed by the defendant or respondent, the judge shall, on such terms as to costs as he or she thinks just, give a reasonable opportunity by adjournment of the hearing or otherwise for the officer by whom the affidavit was made to attend and give oral evidence in the proceedings and for any register, file, book of assessment or other record relating to the duty to be produced and put in evidence in the proceedings.