Q&A ...

Dominic Coyle answers your financial questions:

First-time buyers and stamp duty

In reference to the letter printed last week pertaining to stamp duty relief, I am in a similar situation. I have purchased an apartment as a first time buyer that is due for completion in April/May. I am now undecided as to whether I want to occupy the apartment and was considering renting it out. From your reply I see that I would be liable for stamp duty.

Could you please answer the following:

1. What level for stamp duty would I be liable for - the usual investor rate? The apartment cost €190K.

2. If I rent out the apartment and then sell it, will I be liable for CGT?

3. If I rent out the apartment and then sell it and then purchase another property to live in, will I be treated as a first-time buyer?

Mr P.D., email

It's probably easiest to answer your last point first. You only get one shot at being a first-time buyer. Whether you rent the property, live in it or just leave it idle, this property is the only one for which you will qualify as a first-time buyer.

The benefits attaching to being a first-time buyer are also conditional on you filling two further conditions: that you occupy the property yourself and do not rent it out and that you use it as your principal private residence for the five years following your purchase of the property.

A home can remain the principal private residence of someone not actively living there - such as last week's correspondent who is spending a short time abroad on a career-related project - as long as you do not rent the property or acquire another property as your main residence.

If you do decide to rent or sell the property within the first five years of ownership, the Revenue will pursue you for payment of the stamp duty that you were excused.

Stamp duty is claimed at different rates depending on the value of the property. However, there is no longer an "investor" rate as such - just a new property rate, a first-time buyer rate and an "other" rate.

On a property valued at €190,000, you would be liable to stamp duty "clawback" - ie the rate you would have paid had you not bought the apartment as a first-time owner-occupier - of 3 per cent of the purchase price of the property.

The actual price paid for the property is critical in your case as you sit on the margins of that rate. If, in fact, you paid €190,501 or above for the property, you would be liable to pay stamp duty of 4 per cent - a minimum difference of almost €2,000.

On the question of capital gains tax (CGT), you are right in thinking that you would be liable to CGT should you rent out the property and then sell it. If you used the property as an owner-occupier for a period and then as a source of rental income, the CGT would be assessed pro rata.

Company query

Following a recent article in The Irish Times regarding the valuation of old share certificates, I would appreciate if you could give me any information or whether shares in Canadian Lencourt Mines Ltd, purchased in 1972, are of any current value? I have been unable to trace the company to date and therefore I do not know if it still exists, or whether it trades under another name.

Mr T.O'B., Kilkenny

I've had a pretty good batting average until now in tracking down old companies that have changed identities or simply closed down but I think you might have me here.

I can tell you that Lencourt did have a patchy history through the 1980s and 1990s - being suspended a number of times for failing to file statutory documents and requiring refinancings from shareholders at different points. It was involved in several takeovers, not all of which materialised.

In fact, the company went through a series of name changes. It was, as I understand, initially called Canadian Lencourt Mines Ltd and then became Lencourt Gold Mines Ltd - although that could be the other way around. Anyway, in 1987, it changed name again to become simply Lencourt Ltd.

It is certainly no longer trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the exchange tells me that it has not been trading there since 1992. It was delisted on November 16th, 1992, after having been suspended for a year for once again failing to file statutory returns.

The year's suspension was the maximum period of grace allowed for companies to put their houses in order.

The exchange also, helpfully, told me Lencourt is not trading on any of the smaller exchanges following that delisting.

I am still at a loss as to what exactly happened. What seems clear is that the company is now defunct; whether it was taken over, leaving you with the possibility of some payout or not, I cannot say, but my instinct is that the shares are worthless.

SSIA maturity

I have a question about SSIAs and their maturity dates. Communication from my provider states that, in accordance with Section 49 of the 2002 Finance Act, the SSIA will now mature one month earlier. Please let me know the maturity date for an SSIA opened on May 28th, 2001?

Mr P.D., Kerry

I'm not entirely sure how section 49 on the Finance Act 2002 brings the maturity date of your SSIA forward by one month but I can tell you that the legislation lays down that your account will mature "on the fifth anniversary of the end of the month in which a subscription was first made to the account".

In your case, this means that your account will mature on May 31st of this year.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail to dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering queries. All suitable queries will be answered through the columns of the newspaper. No personal correspondence will be entered into.