HMRC Stamp Duty take on investment property soars

The tax take on investment property soars again – is it fair? HMRC’s quarterly stamp duty statistics for Q4 2016 have been published, recording £2,379 million from residential property, delivering a super-sized Christmas bonus to the tax man – 20 per cent more than in the same quarter of 2015. This adds to the HMRC pot, giving a year-to-date estimated total of Stamp Duty receipts 17 per cent higher than the same period in 2015. Is the tax take fair? Nick Leeming, Jackson-Stops & Staff Chairman, says the Government is doing extremely well out of property investors, “So far £1,190 million worth of stamp duty receipts are estimated to be attributable to the additional 3 per cent element payable on second homes, a significant windfall for Treasury coffers. Between Q2 and Q3 the number of second homes liable for the 3 per cent surcharge nearly doubled. “This increase is understandable as many buy-to-let investors would likely have rushed to make purchases before April 1st, but the number of liable second home transactions is up again in Q4 to 62,800. “The data suggests that buy-to-let investors are not being deterred by the new tax which is supposed to be dampening demand from this group…

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