Advice on reclaiming Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

16th October 2017 Tax Nicola Roby

CHW Accountants in Bolton recently advised a client who bought a new house in August of last year before they had sold the one they were living in and had paid an SDLT surcharge.

Nicola Roby, Director at the Bolton Accountants briefly explains. Since April 2016 a 3% stamp duty land tax (SDLT) surcharge has been applied to the purchase of second homes. Therefore, as our client had purchased their new home after 1 April 2016 they were required to pay the 3% supplement on the entire purchase price.

What our client didn’t realise is that the supplement is not eventually owed where your main home is replaced, even if as in their case they ended up owning two residential properties at the same time.

Under the replacement of main residence rule, people who buy a second property without selling the first must pay higher stamp duty upfront but if they sell the former home within three years, they are eligible for a refund.

We assisted our client with an online refund although a refund can also be claimed by post using form SDLT16.

Any claim must be made by the later of three months from the completion of the sale, and twelve months from the SDLT return filing date which is 30 days from the completion of the purchase.

If these deadlines are missed, the opportunity to reclaim the SDLT supplement is lost.

Recent statistics show that HMRC has refunded £127m of stamp duty since the surcharge was introduced: 6,800 additional property refunds totalling £80m were paid in 2016/17 with a further £47m repaid in January – March 2017. In total, HMRC have given refunds on 10,700 transactions at an average cost of £11,869 each.

For advice on this topic or if you’re looking to reclaim VAT on property Nicola Roby, Director at CHW Accountants in Bolton on 01204 534031 or via our enquiry page.

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