Budget 2016 – Stamp Duty Land Tax

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – additional properties

As previously announced, the government will introduce higher rates of SDLT on purchases of additional residential properties from 1 April 2016. The higher rates will be 3% above the current SDLT rates. It was announced today that following consultation, there will be no exemption from the higher rates for significant investors. In a further revision to the initial announcement last autumn, purchasers will have 36 months rather than 18 months to claim a refund of the higher rates if they buy a new main residence before disposing of their previous main residence.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – commercial property

Following prior reforms to the residential SDLT regime, today the Chancellor announced reforms to the non-residential regime, once again moving away from the previous slab style system which can see vast differences in the SDLT liability for sales that only differ by small amounts.

The government is amending the rates and thresholds so that the portion of the transaction value up to £150,000 is charged at a rate of 0%, the portion between £150,001 and £250,000 is charged at a rate of 2%, and the portion over £250,000 is charged at a rate of 5%.