Ireland is the only country that has a credit card stamp duty. A stamp duty is a tax the government imposes on certain legal documents. The word “stamp” is a holdover from the days when an actual physical stamp was attached to a document to prove that the duty had been paid. The stamp duty on Irish credit cards and charge cards is for €30 per year per account. Charge cards are like credit cards except there is no interest because you pay it off at the end of the month.

It is important to note that multiple cards attached to one account, such as an account where both spouses have a copy of the credit card, only one stamp duty is imposed. If you transfer a credit card account from one issuer to another, you can avoid paying the stamp duty again as long as you close the old account and have documentation from the account you’re closing saying so.

In 2007, Ireland had more than 2.3 million credit cards in circulation, more than double what it was in 1997. Even if only a quarter of those were attached to unique accounts, it would add up to over €20 million in credit card stamp duty income per year.

There is also a stamp duty levied on debit laser cards and ATM cards. For these cards, the tax is €10 on every ATM card or debit laser card, or €20 annually on every combined Laser/ATM card.However, with debit laser cards and ATM cards the duty is affixed on every card rather than every account.

While you may balk at having to prove that you’ve already paid the credit card stamp duty once in a year if you’ve switched cards, or if you think that it’s too much trouble to bother with, consider what would happen if 100,000 Irish citizens didn’t bother. The Irish government would get an extra €30 million in a year for no good reason.

Same thing with the duties on ATM and debit laser cards. If nobody bothered disputing the stamp duty if they switched cards after having paid the tax for the year, the government would rake in an extra €10 million. There’s no sense in trying to get out of paying the stamp duty, but at the same time there’s no reason for you to pay it twice in a year if you don’t have to.