Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 section 81B

Farm consolidation relief

Section 81B provided a temporary relief from stamp duty for instruments giving effect to an exchange of agricultural land between farmers for the purpose of farm consolidation, certified by Teagasc, and applied only to instruments executed between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2007. See now section 81C.

• The relief covered swaps of agricultural land between farmers that Teagasc certified as meeting published farm consolidation conditions.
• No stamp duty arose where the lands exchanged were of equal value; where they were not, duty was charged only on the cash difference paid for equality.
• A certificate in the instrument, a valid Teagasc consolidation certificate, signed five-year farming and retention declarations, and the PPS number of each party all had to be furnished when the instrument was presented for stamping.
• A clawback of the relieved duty (with interest) applied on a disposal within five years, penalties applied for false declarations or invalid certificates, and the relief did not apply where any party was a company.