The stamp duty land tax holiday in England and Northern Ireland has come to an end, more than 14 months after it first came into effect.

The tax break saw most buyers who purchased residential homes for £500,000 or less pay no stamp duty land tax until 30 June 2021, although landlords still had to pay the 3% surcharge. HMRC collected £5.7 billion in stamp duty between April and July 2021, £2.2bn more than the same pandemic-affected period in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, July 2021 was the highest month on record for stamp duty land tax receipts after £1.3bn was collected from residential completions. Many of those July receipts related to June completions, due to the 14-day window in which stamp duty needs to be paid. From 1 July to 30 September 2021, a tapered regime saw no stamp duty paid on the first £250,000 of a residential property completion.

Now and until at least 31 March 2022, house buyers will pay stamp duty for purchases above £125,000 as the usual nil-rate threshold is reintroduced.

The 2% tax rate which applies on the portion of the house price between £125,001 and £250,000 also returns after being omitted for the holiday. Above that up to £925,000, the 5% tax rate applies. After that, the rate rises to 10% up to £1.5m and the 12% rate applies on the portion above £1.5m.

Afford Bond Tax Director, Chris Regnauld commented: “There has been a tremendous surge in activity in the property market recently, and there are still ways to legitimately mitigate paying stamp duty. For example, haggling over the property price to put it into a lower bracket, claiming back the extra 3% stamp duty additional home surcharge if you sell your main home within three years of buying a second one, or paying for fixtures and fittings separately. And on new builds, you can ask if the developer is offering any incentives by paying the stamp duty for you.”

It is important to also be mindful of Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Talk to us if you need expert tax advice – email Chris.Regnauld@affordbond.com or call Nantwich Accountants on T: 01270 623 731 or Wilmslow Accountants T: 01625 416380.