Most people pay too much Stamp Duty. Find out why and how to get it back.
Every property transaction has some items that are outside the scope of Stamp Duty. Our Chartered Surveyors are experts at working out the value of these items and reducing your Stamp Duty bill.
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Millions recovered
We have hundreds of happy clients who have legitimately reclaimed millions of pounds, having inadvertently paid Stamp Duty on the contents included with their purchase.
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Worthwhile refund
Typically, you’ll get back 5% to 15% of the Stamp Duty you paid. Your refund is likely to be greater than the legal fees you paid to purchase your property, and potentially a lot more.
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Risk-free review
With years of experience, we’ll review your Stamp Duty without an upfront fee. We’re paid from the money we recover. If you don’t receive a refund, we won’t charge you a penny.
Our service is valued by home buyers and professionals
We’ve received hundreds of positive comments from our clients.
We receive introductions from conveyancing solicitors, and we’ve helped solicitors, barristers and accountants secure Stamp Duty refunds on their own purchases.
Why do so many people pay too much Stamp Duty?
Stamp Duty is only paid on land and buildings, not on contents. Yet in almost every property purchase, there are contents on which Stamp Duty is incorrectly paid. Virtually everything that isn’t permanently fixed to the property is not chargeable to Stamp Duty. This is recognised by HMRC in its Stamp Duty guidance for transactions in England.
If your purchase price wasn’t reduced by the tax value of the contents, you will have paid too much Stamp Duty. It can happen for a number of reasons:
HMRC’s Stamp Duty Calculator doesn’t have an option to include the value of your contents, so it’s easily missed.
Your solicitor is neither a surveyor nor a tax specialist, so the purchase price was used to calculate the Stamp Duty payable.
You didn’t employ a Chartered Surveyor specialising in property tax to value your contents.
Even if the purchase price was reduced to reflect the contents, the wrong calculation method was probably used.
It’s no surprise you may have incorrectly paid too much Stamp Duty.
To establish the tax value of your contents means employing a Chartered Surveyor specialising in property tax who will use the Valuation Office Agency’s preferred method.
The tax value of your contents is higher than you might otherwise expect, so the valuation can quickly add up.
The contents valuation is deducted from the purchase price, reducing the land and buildings value used in the Stamp Duty calculation, giving rise to a refund.
There are many qualifying contents on which Stamp Duty should not be paid
Here are the most common items:
| free standing and moveable furniture | carpets and loose floor coverings | curtains blinds and window coverings | TV and electrical equipment | white goods and kitchen equipment | light fittings (internal) | gas and electric fires | gym equipment | ornaments | art work and decorative assets | outdoor furniture | potted plants | garden tools | free standing garden structures | light fittings (external) | fuel stock | spare building materials | children’s play equipment | swimming pool covers | home cinema and surround sound systems |
Here are some unusual contents on which Stamp Duty was paid, and on which refunds were successfully obtained:
| wine tanks | JCB digger | snooker table | go kart | Banksy painting | treehouse | koi carp |
How our Stamp Duty Review works
To evidence what contents were present when you bought the property, you should refer to the TA10 Fittings & Contents Form available from your solicitor. It’s a document completed by the seller detailing the fittings and contents included in the sale. Your solicitor may have a record of additional items that were left in the property on completion. You should refer to the estate agent’s details. And if you’ve bought a new build property, look at the developer’s sales information.
We will identify and value all the qualifying contents that were present on the day of completion. It takes about 45 minutes for one of our inspectors to inspect your property. If you prefer, it can be done remotely. Considering the amount of money you could get back, it’s time very well spent.
Once all the evidence has been collated, a Chargeable Consideration Report is produced by a qualified Chartered Surveyor specialising in property tax. They’re regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and they carry professional indemnity insurance for your protection.
The report details the contents and revises downwards the value of the land and buildings on which Stamp Duty should have been paid.
In order to review your claim for a refund, in addition to your Report, the Stamp Duty Office will also require copies of all the relevant conveyancing documents. If you don’t have them to hand, your solicitor should have retained copies.
As we do all the work, there is minimal impact on your time.
Three important points of which you should be aware
Our Stamp Duty Review is a detailed valuation. It is not exploiting loopholes. It simply values the contents present at your property on the day of completion, in line with the legislation, case law and Valuation Office Agency guidelines.
You should only ever employ a regulated company when you review your Stamp Duty. Before appointing them, it's important to obtain details of their membership of professional bodies, so you can undertake thorough due diligence checks on their experience, qualifications and their professional indemnity insurance.
Your property should ideally be inspected in person, rather than via a remote valuation. This enables our chartered surveyors to correctly assess the size and quality of your qualifying items, which is difficult to do without seeing them. Not only does a visit ensure an accurate valuation, it also often identifies items that might otherwise be overlooked, giving rise to a larger refund.
We are Stamp Duty Land Tax experts
We are a leading independent tax advisory firm, specialising in property tax valuations. Our activities are regulated by RICS (the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). We are registered with the Chartered Institute of Taxation for the purposes of Anti-Money Laundering legislation, and we are fully compliant with all current tax legislation in the UK.
Our property tax valuations for residential property owners result in a Stamp Duty refund. Our property tax valuations for commercial property owners utilise Capital Allowances, resulting in a reduction in Corporation Tax or Income Tax.
Time is running out to claim a Stamp Duty refund
You can amend your Stamp Duty Return at any time within one year of the purchase date. So the clock is ticking!
As Stamp Duty is self-assessed, HMRC will refund any overpaid Stamp Duty on receipt of a correctly amended Stamp Duty Return, together with all the supporting conveyancing documents. You should usually receive your Stamp Duty refund within six weeks.
If you miss the one year deadline, you can still make a claim.
You have up to four years in England to claim Overpayment Relief. However, an Overpayment Relief claim can take a little longer to pay out compared to an amendment claim submitted within 12 months of the purchase date.
You pay no fees upfront. If we can’t identify a refund, your review is free. The only fee we charge is 25% plus VAT of the Stamp Duty refund we secure for you. We do not charge a fee on any surcharge we recover, nor on any interest added by HMRC.
The above time limits are based on current HMRC legislation, which can change at any time. With this in mind, you should complete the form below to begin your Stamp Duty review as soon as possible.
If you bought a property in England (we don’t work in Wales or Scotland) and you would like a Stamp Duty review, please complete the form below to request a Proposal and a Letter of Engagement.
If you would prefer to speak with us, please call Derek Blaney on 020 7846 1974. During the conversation, Derek will let you know how much Stamp Duty you might be eligible to claim back.