Stamp duty on financial cards
Introduction
A tax (or stamp duty) is charged by the Government on cards issued by financial institutions in Ireland each year. If you use one of the following cards issued by a financial institution, you must pay a tax each year.
These cards include:
- ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) cards and debit cards
- Credit cards and charge cards
ATM cards and debit cards
A government stamp duty of 12 cent applies to ATM withdrawals (this is in addition to any charge from your bank). This is capped at €2.50 for ATM cards and €5 for combined (ATM and debit) cards. This stamp duty is collected in arrears. This means that charges for 2023 are charged to your account on 31 December 2023.
Credit cards and charge cards
A credit card is issued by a financial institution that allows you to buy goods, services or cash up to a certain credit limit. You then pay the credit card company for the amount of the total transactions on the card. Interest is charged on any outstanding balance each month.
A charge card can be used like a credit card except no interest is charged since balances are paid by you at the end of each month.
The stamp duty is payable annually as follows:
- Credit cards: €30
- Charge cards: €30
For credit cards, the charge is for each account. You can have additional cards issued on an account without paying extra duty. For charge cards, the charge is per card.
From 2024, the stamp duty applies to each tax year, 1 January to 31 December. Previously, the stamp duty applied to the year up to 1 April. In 2023, a reduced charge of €22.50 was applied for the shorter period 2 April 2023 to 31 December 2023.
If the credit card account is closed and has never been used, no stamp duty is payable, provided that you close the account in the same period as it was opened. If you don't close the account in the period it was opened, you will be charged stamp duty on it even if it has never been used. If you have used your card and you close your account during the year, you will be charged stamp duty on closure.
If you are changing to a different credit card account, you don’t have to pay the duty again for that year. When you are closing the account your card issuer will give you a letter of closure stating that you have paid your stamp duty for the year. If you give this letter to your new card issuer, you will not be charged stamp duty by them for that year. You can change account as often as you like during the year without paying extra duty, once you transfer a letter of closure between the card issuers each time.
You are not liable to stamp duty if your billing address is outside the State for the entire tax year.
More information
If you have a query about a stamp duty charge on your account, you should raise it with your financial institution. For more information on how the stamp duty on financial cards is applied contact Revenue Large Cases Division.