Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 section 134A

Penalties

Section 134A imposes a fixed penalty of €1,265 plus a tax-geared further penalty on persons who deliberately or carelessly cause an underpayment of stamp duty through defective filings or non-filings.

• A €1,265 fixed penalty plus a tax-geared further penalty applies to four categories of default: executing an instrument without disclosing all relevant facts, entering an incorrect transfer order in a securities settlement system, delivering an incorrect return or statement, or failing to deliver a required return.
• Deliberate defaults attract a further penalty of 100% of the underpaid duty, reduced to 75% for cooperation alone, 50% for a prompted qualifying disclosure, or 10% for an unprompted qualifying disclosure.
• Careless defaults attract a further penalty of 40% (or 20% where the underpayment is 15% or less of the duty correctly payable), with reductions available for cooperation and qualifying disclosures, falling as low as 3% for an unprompted disclosure in the lower-tier careless category.
• No penalty applies where the aggregate tax and duty default across all heads is €6,000 or less, provided the default is in the careless rather than deliberate category.