The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1989

CORRESPONDENCE

Allied Irish Bank, P.O. Box 452, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

Your Society's continued efforts to try and improve awareness of and compliance wi th the ERO are greatly appreciated.

16, Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2. 20 October 1989

16 October 1989

Yours sincerely, KEVIN BONNER Assistant Secretary Department of Labour

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.

Mr. James J. Ivers Director General, The Law Society, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Re: Master Lease Dear Mr. Ivers,

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

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.

Yours faithfully, RORY O'DONNELL, Solicitor

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