Conveyancing Solicitor: How we can help your clients obtain a refund of their overpaid SDLT

We are Chartered Surveyors specialising in reducing SDLT by carrying out detailed valuations of the chattels acquired in your clients’ property acquisitions.

  • Fully regulated

    We are fully regulated and insured Chartered Surveyors, as well having as all the required regulatory points in place (PII, AML, Client Money Handling, GDPR).

  • Clear and concise

    We pride ourselves on having transparent terms and that every property is inspected thoroughly. We handle all negotiations with HMRC.

  • England and Wales

    Our service is available for any property purchased in England or Wales. We don’t work in Scotland.

Professional Content Valuers

Our process is overseen by Michael Brownsdon, a Chartered Tax Surveyor and Fellow of the Association of Tax Technicians, who is supported by a team of Chartered Surveyors and dedicated property inspectors.  SDLT Tax is regulated by RICS.

Chattels are not subject to SDLT and we accurately value these chattels on just and reasonable apportionment basis to calculate to correct chargeable consideration for the transaction. We then recover the overpaid SDLT directly from HMRC and pass it on to your clients.

Your clients are not bound by the contract allocation. The legislation states the only method for determining the correct value of chattels is by a just and reasonable apportionment. This is supported by the HMRC SDLT Manual. 

How an SDLT overpayment can occur

In most transactions, SDLT is calculated on the overall purchase price, and little to no consideration is given to the value of the chattels, and ultimately your client is overcharged. As qualified Chartered Surveyors, we can value those chattels and get back from HMRC the SDLT they’ve overpaid on these items.

How to get a chattels valuation, in four steps:

  • An arrangement will be made for one of our dedicated and highly qualified inspectors to visit your client’s property, typically within 2-3 weeks of being instructed. Our inspector will take a schedule of all the chattels included in the sale.

  • We just need a few of the transaction documents from you or your client. We provide your client with an online portal where these can be uploaded safely and securely.

  • Our Chartered Surveyors complete the valuation process, adhering to the just and reasonable apportionment guidance contained in the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Taxes Manual.

  • We apply to HMRC for the refund on your client’s behalf, chasing any delays and responding to any queries. HMRC typically pays out in 30 days or less. Our service covers all queries raised by HMRC/VOA. In the event HMRC amends our valuation, we’ll refund your client’s fee on a pro-rate basis, plus interest. We work on a full disclosure basis so HMRC can see all our workings which prevents HMRC charging penalties or opening enquiries in future years.

Professional reassurance for you and your clients

We are aware that many solicitors are key trusted advisers, and rightly so.  We are also aware that there are many firms and individuals giving SDLT advice of a varying quality, including some peddling outright tax avoidance schemes.  We have seen this rise across all taxes and, unfortunately, SDLT is no exception.  It is therefore understandable that the simplest way to protect your clients is to treat everyone offering tax advice as unscrupulous and advise them to avoid.  This approach unfortunately means that some clients will miss out on adjusting their SDLT return to reflect what was actually purchased.

As a firm of professional Chartered Surveyors, regulated by RICS, we hope that we can reassure you and your clients that the advice we give is properly considered and adheres to the legislation.  What we are seeking to do is not contentious: the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) agrees that properly valued chattels do fall outside of SDLT.  In their regularly updated article “Stamp duty refunds: too good to be true?” where the CIOT review the various schemes, scams and forced interpretation of loopholes, not only do they conclude that properly valued chattels do fall outside of SDLT, they go onto gently chide HMRC, pointing out their interpretation of the only tribunal case in this area leaves much to be desired.  See section 4.3 of this article and, in particular, the grey box in this section.

 Results that speak for themselves

  • Outcome varies depending on what was included within the sale. However, almost every client receives a refund that will more than cover their legal fees.

  • We only charge our fee once the refund has been successfully claimed. If your client’s claim isn’t eligible for a refund, we won’t charge them a penny.

 
  • solicitor

    "Further to our correspondence, I understand there was a saving made on the SDLT reclaim, which is good news. I hope you don’t mind, but I propose passing your details onto another client."

    Margaret Spencer

    Solicitor at gunnercooke

Help your clients obtain an SDLT refund

We review historical transactions purchased in any part of England or Wales for at least £1m (£1.5m in London). We can go back up to four years. 

To help your clients, please point them to sdlt.tax/review.

We can help your colleagues too

We’ve secured Stamp Duty refunds for a number of solicitors and barristers.

To help your colleagues, please point them to sdlt.tax/review.

Complete the form if you require further information

If you’d prefer to speak with us first, please call Simon Timpson on 0330 55 55 400.