When you buy a property, you will pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on that purchase. You will have been advised of amount due by your solicitor. In our experience, as many as one in four of these calculations is done incorrectly. When you have overpaid, it is possible to reclaim that overpayment from HMRC in many cases.

The first step is assessing whether a refund may be due. Having done this, then the case must be put to HMRC for the refund – this entails producing a detailed report explain the reasons for the overpayment, what reliefs or exceptions were missed, and the submission of a revision to the SDLT Return.

There is no stock answer to this because the amount you may be owed will depend on the circumstances of your case – how much you paid for the property, what kind of property it is, how you bought it and so on. Suffice it to say that refunds can range from 40% to 100% of the tax you paid and we have successfully dealt claims from four to seven figure figures!

SDLT Refunds have been featured in the press on numerous occasions, as have Cornerstone Tax. Founder and principal adviser David Hannah is often quoted in the mainstream and financial press on Stamp Duty matters.

Multiple Dwellings Relief, also known as MDR, is a relief on Stamp Duty available to purchasers of more than one dwelling at a time. Designed to offset SDLT costs for investment purchasers, it essentially averages out the value of each dwelling which forms part of the transaction and then levies Stamp Duty on each one based on that average figure rather than on each individual purchase price. This can often result in significant savings.

Many properties are purchased in a condition that means that they aren’t fit to live in but pay the residential SDLT rates, often also the 2 surcharges that add up to another 5% to the tax bill, when they ought to be paying the (much) lower non residential rates of 5%. A claim for this could recover up to 12% of the purchase price.

Introduced in April 2021, the 2% Non-Residential surcharge means that an additional 2% SDLT will be levied against each ‘slice’ of the purchase price of a residential property in the U.K. by a Non-Resident. If the property isn’t 100% residential you don’t pay it – and we can reclaim it for you.

If you buy a new home before disposing of your old one you will have to pay a 3% surcharge which you can recover if you sell the old home within 3 years. We have a free download to assist you in doing this. If you would prefer our expert assistance, we would be happy to help you?

Generally, you have 1 year from the submission of the SDLT Return in which to submit an amendment and claim a refund. This may be extended in certain circumstances up to 4 years.

No an easy question to answer – the process of determining whether a refund is due and submitting the appropriate report and amended return to HMRC is usually completed very quickly. We have no control, however, over how long HMRC will take to respond. In some cases, in a matter of weeks, in others several months.

Yes. For example, if you own a residential property abroad, this will be relevant for determining your liability to the Higher Rate Additional Surcharge for purchasing a second residence if you then purchase a residential property in the U.K.

You can simply complete our contact form to begin your SDLT Refund process.

Once you have furnished us with the appropriate information, we will determine whether we think you have a claim. If you do, and you elect to proceed, we will produce the appropriate report and submit with a fully amended SDLT return to HMRC on your behalf. They will then issue a refund cheque.

Our standard fee is 25% of whatever refund amount is paid out.

An overly complex, and ever shifting regime of legislation combined with inadequate support for solicitors and a HMRC calculator which fails to take account of many relevant factors all combine to make SDLT overpayments unfortunately common.