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Reducing stamp duty
westernpromise
Posts: 4,833 Forumite
I was just looking up stamp duty levels on house purchases. A lot of the Google search results for "stamp duty calculator" that came back were links to sites that purport to show you a way to reduce it.
You have to sign up to be pestered in order to find out how it works. I don't want to be pestered, so I was wondering if anyone knows what this wheeze involves.
I'm aware that expats buying through companies can achieve a lower rate of stamp duty. The flipside must be that the company incurs CGT when it sells the house. This is of no interest to me because it's not a saving at all, it's just swapping a known cost now for an unknown one in the future.
Can anyone shed any light, even in outline terms, on what this ploy involves? I've searched for "stamp duty", but this generates a very large number of hits. Thanks in advance.
You have to sign up to be pestered in order to find out how it works. I don't want to be pestered, so I was wondering if anyone knows what this wheeze involves.
I'm aware that expats buying through companies can achieve a lower rate of stamp duty. The flipside must be that the company incurs CGT when it sells the house. This is of no interest to me because it's not a saving at all, it's just swapping a known cost now for an unknown one in the future.
Can anyone shed any light, even in outline terms, on what this ploy involves? I've searched for "stamp duty", but this generates a very large number of hits. Thanks in advance.
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Comments
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http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/avoidance/spotlights10.htm
The main scheme seems to take advantage of sub-sale relief, which is chiefly designed for instalment sales but has been picked up by dodgy scheme providers. IMO you should avoid these like the plague as HMRC are cracking down on this sort of avoidance.0 -
I hope there isn't a stamp duty calculator to calculate 1%;)
Other than the dodgy scheme above, the other way os to claim you are paying £250k for the house and £18K for the second hand washer and curtains and the like...again dodgy.0 -
If you do an MSE search, this question comes up fairly often.
The short answer is that there are no legitimate stamp duty 'loop-holes' available to the ordinary residential purchaser.I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0 -
search again this time on "stamp duty mitigation" , this gives 16 hits - this is one of the better ones particularly the last few posts by people now being told to repay tax they thought they had got away withwesternpromise wrote: »II've searched for "stamp duty", but this generates a very large number of hits. Thanks in advance.
this question comes up every 2 - 3 weeks, the answer is the same each time, go read it
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Thanks 00, you have identified the search term I needed to use. I couldn't see how this tax is in any way avoidable and it seems it's not!
And in answer to hcb42, no, I can do that one - I just needed to know what the rates are these days!0
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