Stamp Duty Land Tax: Penalty Notice....Help please

lightspeed

Hi,

I purchased a property at the end of May and have received a penalty notice this morning from the Inland Revenue stating that they have received the stamp duty but there is a £100 penalty because apparently i did not send the Land Transaction in on time???

I was unaware that i had to do anything other than pay my solicitor the required amounts.

I am struggling to understand what this actually is referring to.

Can someone help

Thank you

Bossyboots

Get on to your solicitor immediately on Monday and ask why the stamp duty was not paid on time and tell them about the letter.

If you paid the stamp duty to them and they were completing the SDLT form(which is usual) then they are responsible for the penalty and you should tell them that you expect them to pay it. If they say they have paid it and the letter is a mistake, it is up to them to contact HMRC on your behalf and sort this matter out. To cover yourself, you should reply to HMRC explaining that your solicitor should have submitted the form and duty payable and you have taken the matter up with them and then tell them whatever your solicitor has told you.

Please post back here after you have spoken to your solicitor and let us know what they say.

lightspeed

Thank you for the quick reply,

I can only assume that they were completing the SDLT form as all fees were paid to them, i dont remember being informed of anything i had to do.

To clarify, if i paid the stamp duty to the solicitor, they normally complete the SDLT form and it is not normal for the purchaser to complete this form?

Bossyboots

lightspeed wrote:

Thank you for the quick reply,

I can only assume that they were completing the SDLT form as all fees were paid to them, i dont remember being informed of anything i had to do.

To clarify, if i paid the stamp duty to the solicitor, they normally complete the SDLT form and it is not normal for the purchaser to complete this form?

That is correct. The only reason the purchaser would do it (as a couple of members on here are proposing) would be to save £40 or so off their solicitor's bill which is what some are charging to do it. This form is part of the normal conveyancing process you would expect your solicitor to do and the fact that you have paid over the stamp duty to him shows that he is to complete the form.

clutton_2

i have had this a few times, don't get too worried, sometimes the SDLT office is a bit chaotic, and they have it all the time, sometime the solicitor forgot, or his/her accounts dept forget to send it off. dont worry.

dfarry

Yeah get onto the solicitor immediately as that just isn't on...

I have a relevant thread too about SDLT http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=238739