Budget 2017: Brexit prompts review of stamp duty on share trading

The Department of Finance plans to consider the future of the State's long-standing 1 per cent stamp duty on share trading in Irish companies in the wake of the Brexit referendum.

"It is proposed to carry out a review in 2017 of the application of stamp duty on stocks or marketable securities of an Irish incorporated company in the context of the sustainability of the stamp duty yield and the future UK relationship with the EU," the department said in document published in conjunction with Budget 2017 called Getting Ireland Brexit Ready.

It said the review would also take account of competitiveness issues.

The move comes two years after Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said he planned to eliminate stamp duty on share trading on Dublin's junior market in order to encourage investment in growing companies on the so-called Enterprise Securities Market.

State-aid rules

However, the Department of Finance told

The Irish Times

last month that the plan continued to be the subject of discussions with the

European Commission

over whether it complies with state-aid rules.

The UK has a 0.5 per cent stamp duty rate on share trading, while the rate levy in France and Italy is 0.2 per cent. The Irish Stock Exchange has been lobbying for years to lower the Irish rate to the UK one, at a minimum.

“It is the right time for the Government to examine the impact of stamp duty on Irish companies and consider whether our economy is best served from taxing enterprise and productive capital in this way,” said Aileen O’Donoghue, director of strategy at the exchange.

“Investment capital is mobile and Irish companies are competing with enterprises worldwide for investors. Right now, Irish enterprises are at a serious competitive disadvantage. This is a constant refrain from international investors who are clear that there is a 1 per cent tax on investing in Irish companies that doesn’t apply to most of their international peers.”