Stamp Duty Land Tax – HMRC Cash in

The government has confirmed that £7.5bn has been raised from stamp duty in 2014/2015 – this is the highest level of stamp duty raised since the financial crisis (the highest amount previously raised was £6.7bn in 2007/2008).

Over £5bn of all stamp duty land tax raised came from property sales in London and the South East – representing over two thirds of all stamp duty land tax.

Over one quarter of all stamp duty collected came from property sales in 10 boroughs in the South East.

Rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax

The table below shows how the current rates in place were changed with effect from 4 December 2014.

The table clearly demonstrates how stamp duty land tax at the higher end of the property values has increased substantially with the rates which are now currently in place.

Key Issues

In 2014/2015, only 46% of stamp duty revenue arose from property transactions below £500k. This is significantly less than the 65% which was raised in 2006/2007 from property values below £500k.

Although the current rate only came into effect on 4 December 2014, it is evident already that the stamp duty collected is already increasing as a result of the higher tax rates on the higher value properties.

Cut-off Point?

In comparing the previous system against the current rates and system, if a residential property is purchased for a value for over £937,500, then the purchaser will be worse off under the current rules than they were under the previous rules.