S.L. 364.12 Art. 5Exemption from duty on certain property transfers.

(1) In the case of a transfer of immovable inter vivos property or any real right over such property made on or after the

9th June 2020, the duty otherwise chargeable in terms of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act on the first four hundred thousand euro (€400,000) of the amount or value of the consideration for the transfer of the property or the value of the property, whichever is the higher, shall be chargeable at the rate of one euro and fifty cents

(€1.50) for every one hundred euro (€100.00) or part thereof:

Provided that this article shall only apply where all the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) the person acquiring the property does not require a permit for the purposes of the Immovable Property (Acquisition by Non-Residents) Act or who would have required such a permit had the property acquired not been situated in a special designated area;

(b) the transfer is made in terms of a promise of sale or transfer notice of which would have been given to the Commissioner for Revenue before the 1st January 2022;

(c) no relief is claimed under article 32C of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act on the same transfer.

(2) In the case of an acquisition of an undivided share of property, the benefit shall apply on a pro rata basis according to the share of the property being acquired.

(3) (a) where the Commissioner is of the opinion that two or more transfers form part of a structured arrangement, he may order, within five years from the date of the last of the said transfers, that the exemption granted under this article shall not apply to those transfers and in such a case the duty shall be chargeable on each of those transfers in accordance with the provisions of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act without reference to this article;

(b) the difference between the duty chargeable as provided in sub-article (3)(a) and the duty already paid shall become payable by not later than thirty (30) days following the service of a notice on the transferee;

(c) a person served with a notice made under sub-article (3)(a) shall have the same rights of objection and appeal in accordance with the provisions of the Duty on

Documents and Transfers Act as if that notice were an assessment made under article 54 of that Act;

(d) for the purpose of this article, "structured arrangement" means two or more acquisitions of portions of the same property made by the same person within a period of six months which are executed separately rather than by means of one single transfer, solely or mainly for the purpose of inflating the benefit of the exemption that would otherwise be available in terms of this article;

(e) for the purpose of paragraph (d), "portions of the same property" includes:

(i) adjacent parcels of land;

(ii) portions of developed property or of property under construction that are not identifiable as separate units;

(iii) the airspace and the property beneath it;

(iv) portions of the airspace overlying the same property;

(f) for the purpose of paragraph (d), acquisitions made by bodies of persons that are directly or indirectly controlled and beneficially owned as to more than fifty per cent (50%) by the same persons shall be deemed to be acquisitions made by the same person.

(4) The provisions of this article shall be deemed to have come th into force on the 9 June 2020.