Published in The Irish Independent, 07 December 2007

THOUSANDS of people will benefit from a Christmas bonus of between €2,750 and €28,750 thanks to the decision to backdate stamp duty reductions to house sales completed from November 5 onwards.

However even Finance Minister Brian Cowen had failed to do his sums on who would benefit. He gave out incorrect information when he went on RTE radio to explain the budget yesterday, causing unnecessary confusion amongst house buyers.

Mr Cowen said that the lower rates would only apply to house sales that had been completed since November 5, if the deeds had not yet been presented to the Revenue for official stamping -- which would effectively penalise buyers with more efficient solicitors.

"If the deeds have already been applied to the Revenue Commissioners, then the old regime applies," he said. "If they are presented to the Revenue now, they will be stamped at the new rate."

However the Department of Finance confirmed last night that this was not the case, and any house sale completed on or after November 5 would have stamp duty levied at the new lower rate -- meaning buyers who have already handed over their stamp duty will get refunds. The Revenue said that 677 deeds completed since November 5 had been presented for stamping already and the house owners would all get a percentage of the stamp duty repaid.

However as solicitors have 30 days to present documents after closing a sale, the bulk of those eligible since the November 5 date would not yet have been received, so the full number remains to be seen and is likely to be over 2,000.

Frank Scally and his family are amongst those set to benefit from the unexpected windfall.

They have just purchased a home in Dun Laoghaire, and when they closed the sale on November 12, had to pay a hefty sum in stamp duty. So they were thrilled yesterday to receive news that they will now get €11,500 of that back because of the budget stamp duty changes which brings in lower rates.

They are building an extension to their new home, so the money will come in very useful, said Mr Scally.

"I'm married and we have two children under 18 months so you can imagine how pleased we are about this," he said.

"When I first saw the news, I thought we must have just missed out on it because we bought the house in November,

"But I got confirmation today that we will be able to get a refund," he said.