81: Stamp duty surcharge for overseas buyers

Overseas owners of UK property have undergone a barrage of tax changes over recent years. There does not appear to be an end in sight, with Theresa May announcing at the Conservative party conference held earlier this month that there are to be changes to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) for non-UK purchasers of UK property.

Non-residents and foreign companies will pay an additional SDLT charge of between 1 and 3%. In keeping with other SDLT changes in recent years it seems likely that this will only apply to purchases of UK residential property, not to commercial property. Purchasers who are buying a second home (whether or not the first property is in the UK) already pay an additional 3% levy and the new charge will presumably increase this to 4-6% for non-residents.

We only have available the brief mention made in Mrs May’s speech. There is no current indication of when the new charge would be introduced. A consultation is being prepared. Philip Hammond will deliver his Budget speech on 29 October and it is possible that further details on this proposal might be made available then.

UK property therefore continues to be a target for tax and greater transparency. Helen Ratcliffe summarises the recent developments in an article from the latest issue of our Individual Matters newsletter.