Autumn Budget 2017 – A Tax Break for First Time Buyers

With immediate effect, including house purchases made at any time on Budget day, stamp duty land tax will be abolished on house purchases made by first-time buyers up to a purchase price of £300,000. The relief will be claimed on the stamp duty land tax return, which is usually completed by the purchaser’s solicitor, by entering a code to indicate that the purchaser is a first-time buyer.

The change is predicted to mean that 80% of all first-time buyers will pay no stamp duty land tax at all.  The cost of an average first-time buyer property purchase in the UK is said to be £208,000 on which the SDLT saving will be £1,660.  The saving on a property purchase of £300,000 will amount to £5,000 and this saving is being extended to first-time buyers who pay up to £500,000 to acquire a home.  This will be achieved by exempting the first £300,000 of expenditure for first time buyers on purchases up to £500,000.  If the property purchase is over £500,000, or if any of the purchasers already has a property either in the UK or abroad, there will be no relief at all.

The relief will not apply in Scotland as they now operate a separate land transaction tax rather than stamp duty land tax. The relief will currently apply in Wales, as their land transaction tax is not due to be introduced until April 2018.