Vol. 557 No. 5
109 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Finance if he will investigate a scheme for farm families who wish to restructure and consolidate their holdings by exchanging lands between close relatives so that no capital gains tax or stamp duty would apply in the transaction. [22739/02]
There already exists a relief of stamp duty for the transfer of property between close relatives, namely, consanguinity relief. Under this relief, conveyances on sale and voluntary dispositions of property, other than stocks and marketable securities, between certain relations are taxed at half the specified rate. The transferee must be related to the transferor in one of the following relationships – lineal descendant parent, grand-parent, step-parent, brother of a parent, sister of a parent, lineal descendant of a parent, brother, sister, lineal descendant of a brother, or lineal descendant of a sister. The cost of this relief in a full year is estimated as €4.5 million.
As the Deputy will appreciate, given the forthcoming budget it is not appropriate for me to comment at this stage on the possibility of changes in the tax treatment of such transactions. However, I should point out that section 104 of the Finance Act, 1993, was brought in specifically to close a stamp duty loophole in relation to the exchange of real property and I have no intention of weakening this anti-avoidance provision.
