Stamp Duty

MariaDL

Hi all, I am buying a house in the UK,  this will be my second home, however, the first home is abroad and valued at 45,500 Euros which translating at todays spot rate is below the £40k threshold for higher rate. 

My question is which exchange rate do I use, the spot at completion, an average for the month, or the HMRC currency monthly exchange rate? 

HMRC Monthly rates are published on the penultimate Thursday of every month.
They represent the exchange rate as of midday the day before publication and are intended to apply to the following calendar month.

SDLT_Geek

MariaDL said:

Hi all, I am buying a house in the UK,  this will be my second home, however, the first home is abroad and valued at 45,500 Euros which translating at todays spot rate is below the £40k threshold for higher rate. 

My question is which exchange rate do I use, the spot at completion, an average for the month, or the HMRC currency monthly exchange rate? 

HMRC Monthly rates are published on the penultimate Thursday of every month.
They represent the exchange rate as of midday the day before publication and are intended to apply to the following calendar month.

I am assuming that the property is in England, so the relevant stamp duty is stamp duty land tax.

You need to apply the tests to the value of the property abroad in £ sterling as it is at the end of the day of the date of the completion purchase in the UK. (Finance Act 2003 / Schedule 4ZA / para 3(4).)  So I suggest you must use exchange rates at the end of the date of completion.

MariaDL

Thank you, yes the house I am buying is in the UK. 

For the value of the house abroad which is the one below £40k, would I use the current market value of the property or the cadastral value which is what the house is worth for tax purposes in Spain irrespective of what I paid paid for it when I initially bought it in 2018 or the current market value?