433 / 482
GAZETTE
DECEMBER 1989
CORRESPONDENCE
16, Fitzwilliam Place,
Dublin 2.
20 October 1989
The Editor,
The Gazette,
The Law Society
Re: Stamp Duty on non-grant
type new Houses
Dear Madam,
I was involved with others in the
discussions with the Revenue Com-
missioners in the early 1970s which
culminated in the memorandum in
the November 1976 Gazette setting
out guidelines which in effect were
agreed with the Revenue Com-
missioners. An addendum was pub-
lished in the May 1978 Gazette and
a further note in July/August 1978
Gazette.
Because of this, I seem to get
quite a few queries from Practioners
who are having disputes with the
Revenue Commissioners.
One irritant is that the Revenue
Commissioners seem to think that
they agreed with the Law Society
that where stamp duty was being
assessed on site value only, that the
site value would be taken as quarter
of the aggregate figure shown in the
Building Contract/Agreement for Sale.
No such agreement was ever
made. What did happen is that the
Revenue Commissioners introduced
a rule of thumb to look closely at all
cases where the site value was
shown to be less than 25% of the
total. In my opinion this was caused
by Solicitors putting in derisory
figures for site value. I was part of
a deputation that met the Revenue
Commissioners on the point when
it was agreed that the site value
should be a realistic market value.
If the site was purchased by the
Builder a few months before, in an
arms length deal, the Commiss-
ioners agreed to accept that true
value regardlees of what percentage
it was of the total. It was following
that meeting that the practice note
in the July/August '78 Gazette was
published.
The purpose of this letter is to put
Solicitors on notice of the true position.
Yours faithfully,
RORY O'DONNELL,
Solicitor
Allied Irish Bank,
P.O. Box 452,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.
16 October 1989
Mr. James J. Ivers
Director General,
The Law Society,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
Re: Master Lease
Dear Mr. Ivers,
We often get requests from Solicitors
for Master Leases and have a
sufficient stock in our Stationery
Department to last for some time.
Should you or members of the
Incorporated Law Society require
copies of the Lease we shall be
pleased to supply them.
Yours sincerely,
JOHN CURRAN
Senior Marketing Manager,
Agriculture/Natural Resources.
Dept. of Labour
Davitt House,
Mespil Road,
Dublin 4.
31 October, 1989
Mr. James J. Ivers,
Director General,
The Law Society
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
Dear Mr. Ivers,
Thank you for your letter of the 5th
September, 1989 in connection
with the amount of arrears collected
annually under the Law Clerks' ERO.
As regards your suggestion about
the Labour Court's Report, the
Report contains details on all EROs
and I am afraid an exception could
not be made in respect of the Law
Clerks. Your Society is free however
to make whatever points you wish
in the matter.
You also raised the issue of
publishing my letter of 1st
September, 1989 in your Society's
Gazette. You might publish it in
terms of the attached, stating that
the Department has given the
information to the Society on the
enforcement of the ERO.
Your Society's continued efforts
to try and improve awareness of and
compliance wi th the ERO are
greatly appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
KEVIN BONNER
Assistant Secretary
Department of Labour
In respect of the arrears under the
Law Clerk's ERO for 1987 and 1988
the position is t hat of the
£21,588.93 collected in 1987 from
57 employers in respect of 82
employees, £8,936.66 or 41.39%
was in amounts in excess of £1,000
from 5 employers in respect of 13
employees with the balance of
£12,652.27 or 58.61% coming from
52 employers in respect of 69 em-
ployees in amounts from as little as
£17.22 to a maximum of £872.06.
The 1988 position is that of the
£45,731.96 collected from 102
employers in respect of 133 em-
ployees, £23,278.10 or 50.90%
was in amounts in excess of £1,000
from 12 employers in respect of 20
employees with the balance of
£22,453.86 or 49.10% coming
from 90 employers in respect of 113
employees in amounts from £5.64
to £960.37.
In most cases where breaches of
the ERO relating to underpayments
are detected in the course of routine
inspections the empoyers pay the
arrears promptly, often without any
written request from the Depart-
ment to do so. In the remaining
minority, arrears are paid on receipt
of a letter from the Department
stating that underpayments have
been discovered. The Department
has since the beginning of 1988
notified the Incorporated Law
Society of breaches in cases where
employers have not responded to its
requests to have matters put right.
Before no t i f y i ng the Society
employers are informed in writing
that unless matters are put right the
Society will be notified of the
breaches.
In summary, [i] a big percentage
of the arrears collected comes from
employers in small amounts and [ii]
the vast majority of employers pay
as soon as the underpayments are
brought to their attention.
The Department will continue to
keep the Law Society informed of
breaches in cases where the
employer fails to put matters right
when requested and is aware that
4 11