Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 2

Written Answers - Tax Code.

Gerry Reynolds

Question:

259 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Finance the amount of money collected in a financial year from stamp duty on ATM cards, credit cards and cheque books; when this stamp duty was first introduced; and if he has any plans to discontinue this tax. [13966/01]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

The yield from the stamp duty charges on ATM cards, credit cards and cheque books for the years 1997 to 2000 is as follows:

	1997	1998	1999	2000
	£m	£m	£m	£m
ATM Cards	7.5	7.6	8.3	9.1
Credit Cards	9.1	10.9	12.1	14.3
Cheques	9.0	8.3	8.6	9.3

There is a £5 stamp duty charge on ATM cards. This charge was introduced in 1992 at a rate of £2 per cash card and was increased to the current rate in 1996. The duty is payable by a bank or building society in respect of each cash card which is valid during their accounting period. ATM cards are exempt from stamp duty where a card has not been used during the accounting period and for any card issued in respect of a deposit account where the average daily balance did not exceed £10.

A stamp duty charge of £15 is also imposed on credit cards. This charge was introduced in 1981 at a rate of £5 per card, increased to £10 in 1984 and further increased to the current charge of £15 in 1992. These charges to stamp duty are levied on the financial institutions in respect of each valid ATM or credit card account maintained by them. However, the institutions are entitled to, and usually do, pass on this stamp duty charge to the account holder.

There has been a stamp duty charge on cheques for very many years. The present charge of 7p per cheque has been in existence since 1984 when it was increased from 5p.