Minister Creed Must Honour Stamp Duty Statement

IFA President Joe Healy said the Government must honour the commitment made by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed that the increase in commercial stamp duty from 2% to 6%, announced in the Budget, would not apply to farmland.

“The Minister must sit down with the Minister for Finance Pascal Donohoe as a matter of urgency and clarify how this commitment will be implemented,” he said.

Joe Healy acknowledged that the Stamp Duty reliefs for young trained farmers and for related parties would take an amount of transactions out of the 6% rate. However, there would still be a substantial amount of land sales and transfers which are not covered by these reliefs. Minister Creed and Minister Donohoe must make urgent provisions to ensure these transactions undertaken by farmers remain at the old 2% rate,” he said.