The main features of the budget 2010 were

1) Stamp Duty scrapped for first time buyers – The Government has offered a helping hand to first time buyers by not charging stamp duty on houses worth less than £250,000. Any property above that then the normal rates apply. In order to prevent anyone exploiting this situation the stipulation is that the person buying the house cannot have previously owned any property, anywhere in the world.

2) Increase on stamp duty for properties over £1 million – In order to help with funding the first time buyer concession, the government will increase stamp duty from 4% to 5% for properties worth over £1 million, which is a minimum of a £10,000 increase! However this will not start until April 2011.

The budget has made the need for stamp duty avoidance more important for those who are fortunate to be able to purchase the higher value properties. Even if you are not a millionaire, you can still save considerable amount of stamp duty. Either you can check out Russell Eatons book which gives you all the information you need to save your own stamp duty. If you would prefer a professional to provide that service for you then feel free to contact us and we will put you in touch with our preferred providers, who with a fully insured service will see to saving you a lot of money.

Stamp duty on residential property is known as ‘Stamp Duty Land Tax’ and is charged at the following levels

Purchase price/lease premium or transfer value      SDLT rate
Up to £125,000                                           0%
Over £125,000 to £250,000                 1%
Over £250,000 to £500,000                 3%
Over £500,000                                             4%

Before Dec 2003 the tax was just known as ‘Stamp Duty’

One of the issues with selling homes is if you selling price is near one of the thresholds. For example if you were selling a home at £130,000 your purchasers will have to find £1,300 where if you were selling for £125,000 they wouldn’t need to pay any tax.

In an effort to inject some redevelopment of deprived areas of the UK, the goverment do give certain concencessions on the house value from which stamp duty is applicable. Also if your property is environmentally friendly then you may be able to claim some money off your stamp duty bill!

If you are a purchasing non residential or mixed use property then the levels of stamp duty apply.