Vol. 567 No. 1
199 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the basis on which the levy on credit cards is collected; if there are further levies to be paid if a credit card is cancelled; and the justification for this system when cards are little used or cancelled. [13460/03]
Section 140 of the Finance Act 2003 gave legislative effect to the stamp duty increase from €19 to €40 per annum on credit card accounts which I announced in the budget 2003.
This section also contains an anti-avoidance provision as, under the previous legislation, the stamp duty on credit cards was in respect of an account maintained by the bank on 1 April. However, people could cancel their cards in a particular manner so as to avoid the annual charge. In view of this, an anti-avoidance provision was included in the Finance Act 2003 for credit cards to ensure that a stamp duty charge will arise where the account is maintained by the bank at any time during the 12 – month period ending on 1 April rather than maintained specifically on 1 April. This change is effective where the charge arises after 1 April 2003.
If an individual having used a card at any time cancels the credit card after 1 April in a year, a further stamp duty charge of €40 is payable on closure of the account, as the account had been maintained by the financial institution at any time during the year ending on 1 April of the following year. This is consistent with applying a stamp duty charge for a year or part of a year for which the credit card account is held.
