Avoiding stamp duty on house purchase.

G_M

Namely, can one save stamp duty tax by using this method .

Not legally! Stamp duty is payable when ownership is transferred. Using a 'nominal' amount eg £1 for the sale price for each house will not work (tax evasion) as the market price is used (otherwise the practice would be widespread!)

chucky

eeja wrote: »

Below is headline in the Times today but they omitted to raise and answer the most obvious question.
Namely, can one save stamp duty tax by using this method .
If so, tens of thousands of pounds could potentially be saved. There is a 4% tax on the purchase of properties over £500k.
Anyone know the answer ?

''Number of house swaps rise by more than 400 per cent in a year''

you probably could but it would probably only be worth the hassle if it was for properties over £1m without doing the maths and the legal costs.

buy the property as a residential property in a LTD company using a commercial mortgage and pay 3% stamp duty. residential is 4% over £500k.

then transfer the property to yourself after a couple of months.

you only save 1% of the purchase amount - but on a multi-million property you'd save £10k per £1m spent.

theGrinch

I wouldnt be totally surprised if a new 5% stamp duty tier was proposed. the government is short on revenue and long on ideas for increases.