Stamp Duty guidance updated to reflect Finance Act 2025 amendments

Revenue has published updated guidance on farm consolidation relief and the repayment of stamp duty where land is used for residential development to reflect amendments introduced by Finance Act 2025. The amendments include an extension of the reliefs to 31 December 2029 and 31 December 2030 respectively.

The following Finance Act 2025 changes have been reflected in the guidance on the repayment of stamp duty where land is used for residential development:

• An extension of the relevant time limits on acquisition to commencement, and commencement to completion from 30 months to 36 months for large-scale residential developments (LRDs),
• To allow for a full repayment of stamp duty to be claimed in respect of a multi-phase development once the first phase commences,
• To provide that Revenue will be precluded from repaying stamp duty if any of the conditions to avoid a clawback of a repayment are not met, and
• To provide that where a residential development is carried out in phases and a repayment is claimed in respect of the entire residential development, the last phase must be completed within 30 months of the date of the commencement to avoid a clawback (36 months in the case of LRDs).

Finance Act 2025 also provided for the farm consolidation relief to be extended to include transfers of non-commercial woodland in cases where the person acquiring the land intends to retain ownership of it, and use it for conservation purposes, for a period of five years. In addition, the examples in the guidance have been updated to provide greater clarity on how the relief operates in respect of multiple transactions.