Land transaction return SDLT, late filing penalty

GreenCat80

Hi, I’d really appreciate some advice please. I’ve had a letter from HMRC today saying I need to pay a £200 fine because I didn’t notify them when I bought my house (£60k) in august. Surely my solicitor should have done this a when the sale went through? I’m a single mum and will really struggle to pay £200, especially at this time of year!

user1977

For a start, it's nothing to do with the Land Registry. HMRC is Her His Majesty's Revenue & Customs i.e. the tax people. Which is presumably to with the Stamp Duty Land Tax return you were meant to submit at the time of your purchase.

You had a solicitor acting for you, yes? It was (almost certainly) up to them to submit it, so contact them and check they're sorting this out at their own cost.

GreenCat80

Yes I had a (slightly incompetent) solicitor. This is the letter I received. If I forward it to my solicitor do you think they will pay the fine? 

user1977

Yes, they will. I think they'll have received a copy of the letter as well.

(it's not a "fine")

GreenCat80

user1977 said:

Yes, they will. I think they'll have received a copy of the letter as well.

(it's not a "fine")

If the solicitor hasn’t registered the sale, how will HMRC know to send them a letter? 

SDLT_Geek

GreenCat80 said:

user1977 said:

Yes, they will. I think they'll have received a copy of the letter as well.

(it's not a "fine")

If the solicitor hasn’t registered the sale, how will HMRC know to send them a letter? 

It is clear from the letter from HRMC that a land transaction return has been made to them.  But HMRC are saying it was filed with them over three months late.

silvercar

Contact the solicitor and ask them if they intend paying the penalty. If they don’t then make an official complaint following their procedure. If that fails then complain to the ombudsman 

user1977

GreenCat80 said:

user1977 said:

Yes, they will. I think they'll have received a copy of the letter as well.

(it's not a "fine")

If the solicitor hasn’t registered the sale, how will HMRC know to send them a letter? 

For the same reason that they knew to send you the letter - they have submitted an SDLT return, the penalty is for it being late.

propertyrental

1st, check your contract with your solicitor. In most cases, submiting the SDLT return to HMRC is part of their service to you - especially if you purchased with a mortgage (your lender would have insisted on this).

However in some cases it is an optional extra, which you may not have requested and for which you may not have paid. Ultimately submitting the form to HMRC is your responsibility, so whether you paid the solicitor to do it on your behalf is worth checking.

If yes, send a copy of the letter to your solicitor (keep the original) asking them on what date they submitted the SDLT return to HMRC, why it was done late, and what they intend to do about it now.

user1977

propertyrental said:

1st, check your contract with your solicitor. In most cases, submiting the SDLT return to HMRC is part of their service to you - especially if you purchased with a mortgage (your lender would have insisted on this).

However in some cases it is an optional extra, which you may not have requested and for which you may not have paid. Ultimately submitting the form to HMRC is your responsibility, so whether you paid the solicitor to do it on your behalf is worth checking.

As explained above, we know the return has been submitted, and if the OP knows nothing about it then their solicitor obviously did it. Unless something unusual had happened, the reason for it being late is almost certainly a failing in the solicitor's admin.

These things happen, quite commonly - I doubt the solicitors are going to kick up a fuss about sorting it out (and probably were already expecting the penalty notice to come in).

GreenCat80

Thank you everyone, I was in a bit of a panic about, I feel a lot better now and will contact the solicitor next week to ask them if they are going to pay it 🤞🏻