How much Stamp Duty will I have to pay?

Stamp duty is a tax payable when you buy a freehold or leasehold property (or a share of one) costing more than £125,000. The tax applies whether you’re paying for the home outright or with a mortgage.

Since April 2016, all additional homes, such as buy-to-lets and holiday homes, can be subject to an extra stamp duty charge amounting to 3% of the property purchase price. The add-on tax kicks in on properties costing more than £40,000.

In December 2014, the way stamp duty was charged moved from a system where you pay a single rate based on the entire property price, to a system where the next rate up applies only to the slice of property value above the relevant threshold.

The reforms have left the vast majority of buyers better off. 

For example, if you bought a property for £300,000 before December 2014, stamp duty would have cost £9,000 – 3% of the whole purchase price. Under the new system, the bill would only come to £5,000.

How much stamp duty you pay depends on the purchase price; the more expensive the home, the more you will pay.

The current starting threshold is £125,001 - below that, you pay nothing.

The rate of stamp duty then increases incrementally, starting at 2% and rising to 12% for homes costing £1,500,001 or more.

See below for the rate of stamp duty charged for each property purchase price band.

£0 - £125,000 is 0%

£125,001 - £250,000 is 2%

£250,001 - £925,000 is 5%

£925,001 - £1,500,000 is 10%

£1,500,001 and over is 12%

On completion day – when you take possession of the keys and can move into the property – you pay the stamp duty to your solicitor, who will then transfer it to HMRC within 30 days. There is a fine for late payment.

In some circumstances no stamp duty is payable, even where the purchase price exceeds £125,000. For example, where the property was left to you in a will, or was transferred to you through divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership.