Bidding at €317,500

I'm surprised at this discussions implications.
Last year I read a thread on this BB which implied that declaring 'the contents' of a home as separate from the dutiable sale price was perfectly legitimate (within reason). Now the concensus seems to be that it is underhand and illegal??

I'm currently buying a house. I've informed my solicitor that 5K is to be considered as the price of the contents. He asked me to get the EA to send him a valuation for that ammount - which has duly been done.
Its my understanding that the GOODS which constitute the CONTENTS of the house being purchased are NOT considered dutiable (Stamp Duty).

Therefore - whats the problem with doing this? The Revenue are already getting over 46K from me in Duty, I doubt they'll bring down the whole deal over a 350euro saving to me.
 
probably seems like it is underhanded when the value of the contents gets infalated - like if your EA gets the valuation for 18k instead of your 5k this looks dodgy.
But overall I too don't see the illegality of it.
 

You are correct Meccano, the contents are not stampable, but there is a clause in the Stamp Acts which include the contents when determining the RATE at which stamp duty is paid, even though the contents won't be included in calculating the stamp duty. It is an anti avoidance measure.

In your scenario, you are quite correct in that you will not be charged €350 in Stamp for the goods. However, if that €5,000 took you into a higher stamp duty band of 9%, you will be charged at the higher stamp duty rate, on the house cost.

Revenue have a tendancy to look closely at house purchases which are very close to the threshold levels, in order to determine if there has been other consideration passing hands in order to stay below a certain threshold.
 
Fair enough Mollser, thanks for clarifying that. It won't be an issue in this purchase.
 
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