What is Stamp Duty Land Tax?

Often referred to as Stamp Duty, or SDLT, Stamp Duty Land Tax is a self-assessed tax paid by buyers of property in the UK based on that property’s value, as well as other, less well-understood factors. Introduced in 2003 as a replacement for the old Stamp Duty - tax on documents – it has been one of the most often adjusted and amended pieces of tax legislation on the UK statute books ever since.

How do I know if I have overpaid SDLT?

Have you:

Purchased land with the benefit of a planning permission allowing the development and construction of residential housing or units?
Purchased an office building with permitted development rights for conversion for residential housing or units?
Purchased commercial property together with residential units or mixed-use land (i.e. land which has both commercial and non-commercial elements/use)?
Or does any property you have purchased include:
Substations or water pumps
Public footpaths
Communal gardens or public open space
Forestry, woodland or agricultural land
Car parks
Option agreement
If so, it is likely that the SDLT you paid on acquisition was miscalculated, and you could be due a substantial refund from HMRC.

Why would I have paid the wrong amount of SDLT?

The complexity and propensity for change in the SDLT legislation have combined to ensure that SDLT is also one of the least-understood taxes, particularly by those most directly effected by it, namely buyers and their solicitors, who are most often charged with completing the SDLT return on behalf of their clients.

Added to this, HMRC’s own SDLT calculators, provided on their websites, are not tailored to take account of all the variables which may affect the amount of SDLT due on a transaction. Indeed, in 2018 HMRC were forced to clarify to a national newspaper reporting on these facts that the calculators are intended merely as ‘a guide’.

All this means that mistakes are common – as many as one in five SDLT returns may be incorrectly completed, leading to millions of pounds in overpaid SDLT to HMRC every year. This can be because of missed reliefs based on the circumstances of the buyer, misclassification of the property being bought or any one of the more than thirty exemptions in the legislation being missed by the solicitor completing the SDLT return.

Why would I have paid the wrong amount of SDLT?

Finding out if you have a claim and moving forward with it couldn’t be simpler. Contact us by completing the form below or phone, or email us and one of our expert advisers will contact you within an hour to assess your situation and determine whether or not you are owed money.

We operate on a no claim, no fee basis, and in the event that a claim exists, we will handle it on your behalf for a transparent, fixed fee.