Lovin’ this article, but need more advice on your tax affairs?
Get in touch today.
24 January 2020
Stamp Duty Land Tax (“SDLT”) is payable by the purchaser where there is a chargeable land transaction.
It applies to transactions that take place in England & Northern Ireland.
Scotland has its own form of duty called Land & Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Wales has Land Transaction Tax (“LTT”). At present, both are almost identical to SDLT but apply to transactions in those jurisdictions.
Clearly, this includes the simple conveyance of land such as buying a residential property to live in. However, it will also include the creation or assignment of a lease.
A decade ago, SDLT was a relatively simple tax. However, a considerable number of changes over the last few years, motivated by the desire to squeeze more tax out of property. Depending on the nature of the property, the type of purchaser and the chargeable consideration brought in to account, then progressively higher rates of duty apply.
There are also various reliefs and exemptions available subject to the circumstances and type of property.
SDLT, LBTT and LTT are all paid by the purchaser in the land transaction.
SDLT is chargeable on land transactions. A land transaction means any acquisition of a chargeable interest in land.
As stated above, this will include a simple conveyance of land such as buying a house, creating a lease or assigning a lease.
SDLT (and its Scottish and Welsh counterparts) are only paid on chargeable consideration. Generally speaking, this means the price that has been paid by the purchaser to the vendor.
As such, where a property is gifted to a person then there generally will be no SDLT due. However, there are some exceptions to this. This is where there is so-called ‘deemed’ consideration.
Generally, this arises in two scenarios where there is no actual consideration:
There are some other special rules that apply including where the consideration takes the form of an annuity…if that’s your thing.
See our [dedicated article] on this subject.
Conclusion
SDLT, LBTT and LTT are payable by the purchaser on the acquisition of chargeable interests in land where there is chargeable consideration.
Chargeable consideration can be actual consideration or deemed consideration.
If you have any queries around what is stamp duty land tax, LBTT or LTT or any other property tax matters then please do get in touch.
[su_posts template=”templates/teaser-loop.php” posts_per_page=”5″ taxonomy=”post_tag” tax_term=”24″ order=”desc”]