B of I to repay students ATM duty

Refunds: Bank of Ireland is to repay €390,000 in annual Government stamp duty on ATM cards to second-level student account- holders who, it said, were not given enough notice that the bank had stopped its practice of paying the €10 tax on their behalf. Refunds for stamp duty debited in April 2003 and April 2004 will be credited to approximately 35,000 accounts, or 19 per cent of the bank's second-level student account base, Bank of Ireland said yesterday.

The bank discontinued its practice of paying the tax on students' behalf when the Government increased stamp duty on ATM cards from €6.25 to €10 in the December 2002 budget.

The bank notified students of this change through their account statements and notices in branches.

But in the process of debiting the accounts this year it noticed that its own terms and conditions required that students should have been given 14 days notice of the change.

The bank said it was not satisfied that these student account-holders had received this notice.

The bank apologised to customers for its failure to give sufficient notice and said letters would be issued to all affected customers over the coming days. These students will see either €10 or €20 credited to their accounts.

Bank of Ireland is also reinstating its policy of paying the tax on the students' behalf until further notice. It is the only financial institution to do so.