The government is consulting on a new annual charge on residential properties valued over £2m owned by certain ‘non-natural’ persons, and a proposed extension of capital gains tax to the disposal by non-resident, non-natural persons of residential property for more than £2m.
The Scotland Bill received Royal Assent on 1 May and is now the Scotland Act 2012.
Marc Selby explains why the market for SDLT schemes is likely to be severely curtailed following Royal Assent of the Finance Bill, and what the future holds for the specialist SDLT planning adviser.
In this month's briefing, Helen Lethaby reviews recent developments including proposed changes to the rules on the deduction of income tax at source and the tax treatment of manufactured payments.
Wealthy homebuyers have already found ‘loopholes’ to avoid paying the new top rate of stamp duty land tax, the Financial Times reported at the weekend.
The Finance Bill will amend the SDLT rules on a transfer of rights (or sub-sale) ‘so that the grant or assignment of an option cannot be a transfer of rights’.
Putting homes into companies to avoid stamp duty is ‘completely
Toby Price and Ginny Offord explain why the SDLT rules contain a structural bias in favour of leveraging up leases over reducing leverage.
‘The richest home buyers in Britain are costing the country as much as £1bn a year in lost stamp duty on house sales. Research by The Times shows that wealthy British and foreign buyers of one in three houses sold for more than £1m are avoiding the 5% stamp duty.’