Vol. 532 No. 2
125 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance if he will introduce an amendment to the Finance Bill, 2001, that will waive the tax on bank cards for those who agree to have their social welfare payments paid into a bank account; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7033/01]
At present, there is an annual stamp duty charge of £5 per automatic teller machine – ATM – card. There are exemptions from this charge where: a card has not been used during the accounting period and on any card issued in respect of a deposit account where the average daily balance did not exceed £10.
This charge to stamp duty is levied on financial institutions which offer these cash card accounts. However, section 123(9) of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act, 1999, entitles the promoters of these cash cards to charge the account holders the amount of stamp duty and the financial institutions usually do pass on this stamp duty charge to their customers.
In 2000, the yield from this source was £9.1 million. I have no plans to introduce any exemptions in relation to this small £5 charge as proposed by the Deputy.
