More than the stamp duty starting point

M

Mrs Aol

Registered User
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56
Hi,
I'm selling an apartment that has been valued at 315,000.

I have been offered 317,500 which is obviously just below when stamp duty will have to be paid.

I'm looking for opinions on how hard it usually is to break this price barrier.

I'm prety sure I would be offered more if stamp duty didn't come in to it.
 
If you are including contents in the sale, a pc sum for this can be deducted from the purchase price which would establish if SD was payable or not.
 
I thought that there was some doubt about the legitimacy of this sort of split contacts (property and contents) approach even if it is commonplace? Might be worth checking out some of the many other threads on this subject.
 
Lorz said:
If you are including contents in the sale, a pc sum for this can be deducted from the purchase price which would establish if SD was payable or not.
Click to expand...


No no no, please do not let anyone tell you this is true it is illegal. The contents sum is deducted from the full sale price and SD is charged on the contents exclusive price but the full price including contents is used to determine whether SD is payable or not/at what rate.
 
To pay excess over 317.5K for "contents" is of course illegal....BUT..... you will be offered cash over the 317.5K by a buyer to help with the sale as who in their right mind wants to pay €10K in tax just bacause the price of their house increased by a grand or two??

It's up to you whether to accept it or not.

I was looking for a house at and anround the stamp duty cut off for 8 months and on every occasion, bar absolutely none, I was asked to pay cash over the stamp duty limit to secure the sale. I refused at first but when I found that I wouldn't get a house any other way I decided if you can't beat them then you have to join them and payed out a few bob in cash in excess of the SD limit.

I now live in my new house.

What I did was wrong and illegal but it was either that or have no house and I certainly ain't alone. Not by a very long shot.

And you will be advised here by highly moral people that this is wrong and illegal and that you will burn in hell for doing such a thing but none of these people will have been in your situation so take no notice and do whatever you feel you have to do to make you happy.
 
Ballyman said:
To pay excess over 317.5K for "contents" is of course illegal....BUT..... you will be offered cash over the 317.5K by a buyer to help with the sale as who in their right mind wants to pay €10K in tax just bacause the price of their house increased by a grand or two??
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It doesn't even have to be cash. You simply agree to pay for example €317k for the property and have a separate transaction for €5k for contents - AFAIK that is not illegal if you are indeed buying the contents from the purchaser - we did and our solicitor was fully aware of it.

Stamp Duty is payable on the property NOT the curtains!
 
Its not illegal to purchase the contents seperately. However that amount must be taken into consideration in assessing the rate payable. So if you are buying a house for €317,500 as a FTB and contents of €5000- the entire transaction is for €322,500 which means you pay stamp duty at 3% on €317,500( i.e you still don't pay stamp duty on the contents, but the overall figure is used to assess the rate payable, if any). If you do not pay stamp duty, that is illegal.
 
That seems ridiculous. I normally find the Revenue website very helpful but TBH I find the info. on Stamp Duty very difficult to locate & follow. It has to be one of the most common topics on the site too!
 
Lorz said:
That seems ridiculous. I normally find the Revenue website very helpful but TBH I find the info. on Stamp Duty very difficult to locate & follow. It has to be one of the most common topics on the site too!
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Hardly that difficult to locate. Page 6 of the [broken link removed]:
House Contents

Generally, stamp duty is not paid on the purchase of house contents e.g.
curtains, carpets, etc., which may pass by delivery i.e. not included in the
legal document. However, where they are part of the transaction they may
have the effect of moving the stamp duty charge into a higher rate.

Example 4

Mary, a First Time Buyer, purchases a house (inclusive of carpets, curtains
etc.) for £196,850. The cost is broken down as follows:
  • House £ 190,000
  • Carpets, curtains, etc. £ 6,850
  • Total £ 196,850
As the total value of the transaction is £196,850 the stamp duty rate
applicable is 3%. However, the duty is calculated on the value of the house
only (i.e. £190,000).

The duty on the deed is:
£190,000 at 3% = £5,700
Click to expand...
The specific figures/rates may be out of date (not sure) but the general gist is clear.
 
So what's to stop anyone making it into two transactions? Is itg something to do with both transactions being with the ame party? What if he had a motorbike in the yard and you wanted to buy it at the same time? Would that constitute a seperate transaction?
 
It's in the the wording of the certificates that you enter on the sale deed of transfer which has to be signed by the vendor and purchaser. The certificate explicitly states that the amount declared as the purchase price must include a series or related transactions and contents of the house must be included in the overall figure.
 
Well I bought the contents of my house which consisted of a deck chair. Nothing else. The vendor said it was an antique so I paid him €6K for it.:)

Good oul Ireland and the revenue. You gotta love it.
 
I can sometimes be easy to defraud Revenue and engage in tax evasion. It can sometimes also be easy to get caught whether immediately or much further down the road.
 
I believe a lot of people are paying the incorrect rate of SD based on the misconception that we indeed made - thanks Vanilla for clarifying. It would appear that we helped the purchaser of our last house evade the correct amount/rate of SD.
 
In a year of house hunting I placed numerous bids at €317,500 but was always outbid. I eventually had to bite the stamp duty bullet.

If you think you can get more hold out for the higher price. Check what similar properties in the area are selling for (try to find out sale price as opposed to asking).

I always think it's a shame when a property sells for just over SD level though, seller only benefits by a minute amount and buyer has to fork out a soul destroying extra 10k.
 
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