Stamp duty is charged on the instruments used in the transfer of property – that is, on the conveyance documents that transfer ownership of the property. In general, the only factor affecting the amount of stamp duty is the value of the property. Stamp duty applies to residential property such as houses, apartments or sites with agreement to build. It is also payable on non-residential property, that is, land or housing sites without residential buildings.
“Residential property” includes houses, apartments and any site that is bought with a connected agreement to build residential property on it. If you buy a site in connection with (or as part of) an arrangement to build a house or apartment on it, then stamp duty will be charged at the residential property rate on the total of the site cost and the building cost. If you buy a site with no connected arrangement to build a house or apartment on it, then stamp duty will be charged on the site cost at the non-residential property rate.
| Property value | Rate of Duty |
| First €1,000,000 | 1% |
| Excess over €1,000,000 | 2% |
If you are buying your home under the local authority tenant purchase scheme, a maximum amount of €100 is charged in stamp duty. There is no stamp duty payable on certain transfers between spouses, civil partners and cohabitants – see above. If you paid VAT on your house, you only have to pay stamp duty on the base price of the house – before the VAT was added. So, for example, if you paid €454,000 (including VAT) for your new house, this is made up of the base price of €400,000 plus 13.5% VAT (€54,000) and you only pay stamp duty on the base price of €400,000.
The rate of Stamp Duty on non-residential property increased from 6% to 7.5% from 9 October 2019. A new scheme is being introduced to refund stamp duty on property transactions in respect of commercial land bought for the development of housing. To avail of the refund scheme, developers will have to start the relevant development within 30 months of buying the land. Consanguinity stamp duty relief for family farm transfers is being maintained at 1% for a further 3 years. The exemption for young trained farmers from stamp duty on agricultural land transactions continues..
| Consideration | Rate of Duty |
| All Amounts | 7.5% |