The current incarnation of "Stamp Duty Land Tax" (SDLT) was introduced in 2003 for all property transactions carried out within England and Northern Ireland (with similar taxes brought in for Scotland and Wales)

Starting out at a modest 1% this tax has now vastly increased to the point that some transactions (£1.5m+, Additional Home, International Buyer) might cost the buyer a massive 17% in addition to the cost of the property/land. This huge surcharge can rarely be borrowed against using finance and HMRC requires it to be paid no later than two weeks after “Completion”.

We have been working with clients for over a decade to help them with their tax planning and in many cases with SDLT it is possible to legally reduce these large fees regardless of transaction type, location or property type. We have a 100% success rate to date with everyone from first time buyers to large property developers.

This transaction involved a family from South America purchasing a lateral conversion apartment in Central London for £15m. Based on advice received from independent tax advisers a decision was taken to acquire the property in an offshore company. As a result SDLT was payable at the full 15% resulting in a tax liability of £2.25m. We were able to implement the tax planning arrangement in ample time and achieve a saving of £1.6m for the client who has subsequently used our services for further purchases.

This case involved the purchase of a principal private residence in a sole name for £2.5m. We were under significant pressure to achieve completion and implementation of the tax planning plan prior to the conclusion of the C19 SDLT holiday - we were able to achieve this with days to spare and consequently a saving of circa £140k was achieved for the client. In this case SDLT was first paid in full to HMRC and a full disclosure was made of the tax planning arrangement and an amended return submitted reclaiming SDLT monies.

This transaction involved a UK construction business, which was acquiring a significant site in The Southern Counties upon which they had planning to a build a retirement village. This transaction was particularly complex involving investors and a board of directors with differing views and attitudes to the concept of tax planning; consequently a range of provisions and safeguards needed to be implemented in order to satisfy all parties. Our in-house lawyers worked in conjunction with the client’s team to achieve the desired outcome. As it was a commercial transaction SDLT was capped at 5%. But with a purchase price of £32m, the duty still amounted to a not inconsequential £1.7m. We were able to achieve a 64% saving for the client and return this to them within two months of purchase. Once again, SDLT monies were paid in full to HMRC and an amended return submitted containing a full disclosure.

Parents based in the UAE were purchasing two modern flats in Mayfair for their daughters who were due to start university in London later in the year. With a total price of £4.5m and as overseas buyers this would have resulted in an eye watering projected SDLT bill of well over six hundred thousand pounds. Through tax planning we were able to significantly cut this tax bill by almost 70%.

What Is The Latest This Can Be Done?
This tax planning must be in place before completion but can be done after exchange of contracts. It is important in all cases to contact us as early as possible as it does take some time to put in place.

What Is The Minimum Value This Works With?
We can work with any transaction but with our SDLT rates and our fees this planning is only worthwhile for transactions of £600k upwards.

How Much Do You Charge?
Depending on size we charge 20-30% of a reclaim. This is on a no-win no-fee basis that is deducted from your refund from HMRC so there is nothing for you to pay up front.

Is This Legal?
We have transacted several hundred cases with a 100% success rate and our planning does not involve any particular features of your property such as annexes or out-houses. This is a reclaim from HMRC after you have paid them SDLT so they are unlikely to declare refunds they have paid out “illegal”.

Can I refer clients to you ?
We work with many third parties such estate agents, mortgage brokers and accountants and have a generous introducer scheme. Contact us for more details.

Do you have any other tax planning products?
We also have tax products for legally avoiding the 3% extra SDLT charge for purchasing additional property and also a scheme that can protect your family's wealth against inheritance tax. Both have been fully tested.

We can also assist with a wide variety of tax reclaim applications for property transactions from HMRC and have a near hundred percent success rate over hundreds of cases in dealing with the Revenue and quickly reclaiming over paid SDLT.

Conversely we are experts at working up-front with property solicitors and conveyancers, who will rarely give tax advice nowadays, to provide a professional written opinion on the correct reduced amount of SDLT that should be paid to HMRC and can be called upon should any further justification be required.

Not taking advantage of Multiple Dwelling Relief (MDR) or claiming a reduction for in an inhabitable dwelling are some of the most common reasons for overpaying SDLT and is often due to the conveyancing solicitor either being unaware or unwilling to apply for legal discounts for property with multiple historic dwelling features such as an out-house or “granny wing” or conversely multiple chained transactions.

Alternatively your circumstances may have changed during the often lengthy course of a transaction e.g. an additional property becomes a main residence and thereby you are due a reduced SDLT charge that we can apply for. In all reclaim cases we work for a fixed percentage on funds recovered and a no win no fee basis.

We can provide a full range of other related and helpful property services both directly and through our trusted partners.

We can offer access to all mortgage lenders on the market for UK property finance up to £50m for British domiciled and International buyers. We can also arrange short term (bridging) finance, mortgages secured against assets and even loans to pay SDLT taxes or other charges.

If you are indeed of assistance in helping find the right property to suit your needs we can provide a buying agent service to help locate the best options for you both listed for sale and from more secretive offmarket sources.

We also work closely with an OISC registered immigration firm should you require help relocating to the United Kingdom via an option such as an Investment Visa. Finally of course as qualified tax advised can help with all types of personal, family and trust taxation affairs.