Stamp Duty - fixtures and fittings

cookie666

Hi

For the first time ever I am in position to hopefully buy a property of around £280k bad news is that I just found out about Stamp duty!

I know from reading that people used to get round this with buying F&F but I've heard there has been a clampdown however the house I am looking at does have these but not £30k's worth, what is an acceptable figure in the taxmans eyes?

zacattack_2

HMRC have become clever to this especially on houses at just under a stamp duty threshold (i.e. 250k in this instance )- my advice is don't do it as getting caught would be seen as fraud.

hazyjo

Probably wouldn't get away with more than around £2-3k absolute max. So, either you pay the higher stamp duty, or you drop them to £250k. How long has it been on the market? Has the price been dropped in that time? What have similar properties sold for?

Don't think what it's up for is necessarily its 'actual worth'. It might be that, without SD, it would have been up for around £270k. In this market, anyone selling for that price would more than likely be dropped to £250k. It might well be that they've gone for a £280k-ish figure in order to see if they can get over the SD level. You need to do your homework to see what things have sold for (not what others are up for).

Jx

john_white

Or get the vendor to pay the duty.

sonastin

An acceptable figure in HMRC's eyes is what the stuff would sell for privately, e.g. on ebay. If you would willingly pay that figure to someone completely independent of the person selling you a house that is a fair market value for second-hand fixtures and fittings. If the second-hand price is inflated because it is part of a house sale, it becomes part of the sale price for stamp duty purposes.

googler

Strike a deal with the owner whereby you buy at £280k, but they pay 1 or 1.5% of the 3% stamp duty.

You'd be paying 1% at anywhere up to £250k, if they pay 1% you pay 2%, or they pay 1.5% you pay 1.5%, makes it less of a jump for you and gets them the sale.

MissMotivation

cookie666 wrote: »

Hi

For the first time ever I am in position to hopefully buy a property of around £280k bad news is that I just found out about Stamp duty!

I know from reading that people used to get round this with buying F&F but I've heard there has been a clampdown however the house I am looking at does have these but not £30k's worth, what is an acceptable figure in the taxmans eyes?

It's called Tax Evasion.....and it's a serious offence!

geoffky

I again am convinced more research is taken by some people buying a ipod than buying a house...It is bend over time for you because of your lack of research..absolute madness...

G_M

washing machine on ebay: £20 - £80?
fridge: ditto
curtains: £20 - £150?

get the idea?

theartfullodger

We don't want tax cheats in our country: It's hardly the act of a decent patriotic person is it?? Surely an honourable person would pay any tax due promptly & with good humour??

Clearlier

To be a little bit fair to the OP, posting on here could be considered as at least starting research.

OP - I think that wealthier people that us would call it tax avoidance rather than tax evasion. Either way I don't recommend it legally or morally.