UK Stamp Duty
Stamp Duty, or Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) to give it it’s full name, is the tax paid when you purchase a property in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland has its own separate property tax).
This tax must be paid by the purchaser and the amount due must be sent to HMRC within 14 days of completion of the purchase, together with the appropriate form. More often than not you will complete the form and send it to your solicitor to submit to HMRC together with the amount due.
How Much is UK Stamp Duty?
The amount that you pay in stamp duty depends upon a number of things – whether the property or land is residential or not, the purchase price and also whether the property is classed as a second home (with effect from April 2016).
This site has been set up to be geared more towards the residential property purchaser to give them as much information as possible regarding the amount and payment of stamp duty. However, we will cover as much information as we can about other variations in stamp duty and how they affect purchasers.
If you want to find out how much stamp duty is payable on your property purchase then use our Stamp Duty Calculator. There are two versions – one will tell you the standard rate for the purchase of your main residence and the other will tell you how much is due if the purchase is classed as a second property.
Stamp Duty Changes
UK Stamp Duty has gone through a number of changes in recent years to get to the position we are in today and no doubt there will be further changes to come. In the past Stamp Duty was payable at specific rates depending on the purchase price, leading to big jumps in the amount due on certain property prices. However, now the amount due is evened out much more so there is less emphasis on keeping a property price below particular levels.
We will endeavour to keep you up to date with any changes in Stamp Duty as they happen. You can also view any articles relating to stamp duty changes here.
Minimum Purchase Prices
Currently in terms of main residential property purchases there is no stamp duty payable for first property purchases under the value of £250,000 but this is just a basic rule of thumb. There are other rules that may apply for your own situation so please look through the site for the relevant information. For second properties the threshold is £40,000.
There are special rates of stamp duty that are payable where multiple properties are being bought or if the purchase is by a commercial body.
This Site
On this site we will try and answer all the perhaps more specific questions that you have about stamp duty and you can check out the news page for more of those or just use the search bar at the top of the site to see if we have already covered something that you are trying to find out.
Please note though, that although we endeavour to provide the most accurate and up to date information about stamp duty, it is up to the individual reader to ascertain the facts for their own circumstances and in this regard you are recommended to consult a solicitor to confirm the amounts owed or if indeed stamp duty is payable at all.
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