With £11.7 billion in SDLT paid over the last year, could you be due for a refund on your property tax?

New figures recently released have shown HMRC received £11.7 billion in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) from property owners up and down the country in the year 2016/17, an increase of 10% from the previous year.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), the tax you pay when purchasing a property, has recently attracted widespread attention due to discussion around its need for reform as a result of the impact being seen across the market, from buy-to-let portfolios, to second home owners and first-time buyers.

Whilst SDLT, and in particular the 3% surcharge, has brought with it a new layer of complication and additional charges when buying property, there is a possibility that you may have overpaid the correct level of tax due, and as a result you could be due for a refund.

Cornerstone Tax, the leading experts in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in the UK for over a decade, has launched a new service line, SDLT Refunds, a specialist division created to meet the huge demand from thousands of consumers who could have overpaid SDLT in the last four years. It is estimated that billions of pounds were overpaid in 2015-2016 and this service is aimed at getting homeowners and investors back on the right track with what they should be paying.

How does SDLT Refunds work?
The rife miscalculation of SDLT is attributed to the incorrect classification of assets pre-purchase of a property, by both buyers and their advisors. Cornerstone’s new service assesses whether house buyers have had their assets misclassified and, if this is the case, claims the appropriate refund on behalf of the applicant from HMRC.

What is the success rate?
During a 12-month pilot of its new service, Cornerstone Tax achieved the successful conversion of more than 95% of applications for SDLT refunds. These individuals had typically paid twice as much SDLT as legally required. With residential 2015-16 SDLT revenues recorded at £7.3bn, this leaves annual overpayments projected at more than £3bn across the UK.

SDLT
SDLT is a fixed tax paid by property purchasers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Changes were made to UK SDLT rates in 2014, from a ‘slab’ payment to a ‘slice’ system, whereby there is no tax on house purchases up to the value of £125,000, 2% tax on the amount of purchase price between that and £250,000, 5% in the band up to £925,000, 10% between that and £1.5m and 12% for everything over.

Find out more at sdltrefunds.co.uk