Stamp Duty Land Tax: Coronavirus

(asked on 5th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of moving the trigger point for the Stamp Duty holiday from the date of completion to the date of sale.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 10th November 2020

The Stamp Duty Land Tax temporary rates apply to transactions completed or substantially performed between 8 July 2020 and 31 March 2021. A transaction is substantially performed where the buyer has paid 90% of the purchase price, or where they have possession of the whole or substantially the whole of the property.

Completion and substantial performance are recognised legal concepts and using them as trigger points for Stamp Duty Land Tax provides certainty to consumers and to HMRC. There is no standard definition of a point of sale in a housing transaction and so moving the trigger point for a transaction to the date of sale would lead to uncertainty and confusion among home buyers. This lack of certainty would also mean that such a trigger point would be open to abuse.

As with all tax policy, the Government continues to monitor the impact of the SDLT temporary rates.

Reticulating Splines