2% Stamp Duty surcharge for non-UK residents from 1st April

From 1 April 2021, a 2% Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) surcharge will apply to purchasers of residential property in England and Northern Ireland who are not resident in the UK. Click Here

The 2% surcharge applies to all ‘non-resident transactions’, even if you intend to live in the property when you buy a major interest in a residential property for £40,000 or more. If any individuals are non-UK resident in relation to the transaction, then all buyers are treated as non-UK resident.

Corporate buyers are non-UK resident if they are not UK resident for Corporation Tax purposes at the effective date of the transaction.

Where a transaction is identified as a ‘non-resident transaction’, the 2% surcharge applies on top of all other residential rates of SDLT, including zero rates and the rates which apply to first-time buyers, purchasers of additional dwellings, purchases made by companies and purchases where the consideration exceeds the higher rate threshold.

The surcharge does not apply to purchases of property, or part of a property, if the property is either a:

• non-residential property
• mixture of residential and non-residential, for example, a shop with a flat above it, unless a claim to Multiple Dwellings Relief is made

The surcharge also does not apply to property you lease if your lease is for 7 years or less, on the date it was granted.