There are enormous financial benefits available to our buying clients through utilising the Stamp Duty Land Tax Mitigation Scheme. It can reduce stamp duty liability by about 50%.

You may be aware that The Independent newspaper ran an article about the Labour Party’s use of SDLT planning which saved them £210,000 in stamp duty land tax.

Highlights of the Planning:

1).        The  SDLT strategy has been running for over 4 years.

2).        In excess of 1000 cases have been successfully completed.

3).        The planning is backed by a robust Counsel’s Opinion given by a leading Tax Counsel from Lincolns Inn Tax Chambers.

4).        The planning has been disclosed to HMRC and has a corresponding scheme disclosure number ensuring that it is fully compliant with HMRC requirements for tax planning.

5).        The structure has been queried on only a few occasions by the Inland Revenue who were promptly and easily satisfied that there is a legal loophole for reducing stamp duty.

6).        The strategy is currently being marketed via 1500 firms of Chartered Accountants comprising the membership of the 2020 Group, the board of which ran the planning themselves as part of their process of due diligence in respect of their own commercial purchase.

7).        The structure will save property buyers in the region of 50% of the SDLT. The total fee to the client is between 1.5% and 2% plus VAT which includes SDLT and any associated fees apart from conveyancing.

8).        So confident are the tax strategists of the scheme’s integrity that they offer a ‘no-win-no-fee’  undertaking, via which all fees are fully refunded to the client in the event of a successful challenge by HMRC.

9).        As well as the Chartered Accountancy Networks, the planning is used by House Builders, Land Buyers, Property Lawyers, Commercial Conveyancers and others to enable their clients to mitigate stamp duty.

10).       The scheme is deemed to be low risk and non-aggressive and does not involve either the vendor or the lending institution involved in the transaction or effect either their title, security or ability to realise funds from the sale of the property.

11).     The planning has been run in conjunction with a variety of lenders in the UK and was approved by a major UK prime bank late 2006.

How does it work?

The easiest way to position it is that if a client is involved in a purchase at £1,000,000, if he or she did nothing they would pay the Treasury £40,000. If they elected to run this planning they would pay tax specialists a fee of £20,000 plus VAT resulting in a net saving to them of £17,000.

If you may be interested in more information on this give Stephen Dyer a call on 0800 074 5335 or 07768 778800 and he can put you in touch with the firm who are dealing with this

Labels: Market News, SDLT, Stamp Duty