Do I have a case for a refund of government stamp duty?

Folks, I'm after some advice regarding a issue I have, that I realise now I am being screwed over, and I can't decide whether it is by the bank or the government i.e. the usual suspects.

The situation is this. I had a credit card with one of the main banks through an organisation that I was a member of. Some time ago, the card was due for renewal and I duly got a new card in the post which I stuck in a drawer at home somewhere. I didn't use the card much as I had just cleared a large-ish sum off it, so I left it in the drawer until I couldn't find it any more. By the time I realised I didn't know where it was, I decided not to bother reporting it lost as it was probably due for renewal soon enough and I'd get a new one.

A long time passed however, and no new card was ever sent out. The only thing I got was the annual demand for €30 (government stamp duty), which I always paid. Every year, upon receiving this statement, I thought I better ring up and find out what the story is with that card, but it always got forgotten about.

Fast forward to a few days ago and I finally decide to ring up after another €30 tax demand arrived. I'm told that because the card hadn't been used since 2007 (!), there was a refusal to renew in 2008, so I've effectively not had a credit card with them since then. So why have been paying the €30 government stamp duty every year, I asked. Oh, that's on the account, apparently. Even though there was no card issued since 2008, the account was still there.

I always thought the government levy was a tax on the card, am I wrong about that? This account is purely for that particular credit card, I don't do any other banking with this bank. I do however have an old savings account also with them which has a small amount sitting in it (less that €100) but I don't get charged €30 for that.

From what I can see, the stamp duty is on the card itself, so my question is, should I be looking for that money back from the bank from the time they refused to re-issue the card (which would amount to nearly a couple of hundred Euro)? I presume the bank or credit card issuer charges the €30 to each card, then pays the government for all issued cards, therefore they appear to have been charging me for a card they knew didn't exist, knowing that the duty would not have to be paid?

In short, do I have grounds to make a complaint about this, and get my money back?

Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading.

My understanding is that the charge is per account and not per card. Hence 2 cards held on the one account will only be charged one tax. The exception to this would be company cards issued to staff where each card is liable

But contrary to that, there has to be at least one card associated with the account to incur the levy, is that not also right?

Any more thoughts on this, folks? I'd like to start a complaint process against the bank here if I can be sure the levy is solely for the card(s) associated with a given account rather than the account itself. I'd also appreciate any advice on how to start the complaint procedure if anyone has any thoughts.

The credit card company follows the legislation. Even if they admit that they should have closed your account, they don't have any power to refund you the tax (unless they make an ex gratia payment).

You need to get in contact with the Revenue and tell them the account hasn't been used since 2007 but you've been charged €30 a year on it. See what they say.

Steven
http://www.bluewaterfp.ie (www.bluewaterfp.ie)

Just to follow up with this, I didn't go back to AIB at the time as it looked like they may be right. However, late last year they got in contact with me via a letter and asked me to call them. Long story short, I was refunded the money about a week after contacting them. Obviously there was something that didn't hold up under scrutiny after they looked at it following my initial query.