Avoiding Stamp Duty Land Tax - Basic principles - By: Wesley Lawson

Before coming to the question, is Stamp Duty Mitigation Legal, it is advisable to know the real difference between tax planning and tax evasion. Tax planning is minimizing the taxes owed to the Government by using the provisions in the taxation law in your favor. This is entirely legal. However tax avoidance is to suppress your actual income or tax dues and this is a criminal offence. Stamp Duty Mitigation or Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) planning is definitely an entirely legal kind of tax planning, which utilizes the provisions in the UK tax law, to lower the amount of Stamp Duty Land Tax to be paid.

Should you have had bought a property recently, you have to be wondering why your Solicitor didn't let you know to implement this legal method to minimize the Stamp Duty Land Tax? The truth is it needs Tax planning to a very high degree and specialized knowledge is essential for Stamp Duty Mitigation. You need an expert within this field and this will be beyond the competence associated with an ordinary conveyancing lawyer. You know the full process is legal because the tax planning will be disclosed to the HMRC together with a corresponding scheme disclosure number is received. This guarantees that all the legal requirements under HMRC are fully complied with. To add to this, you'll also get a written legal opinion from a leading Counsel. With these two facts within your file, no one can accuse you of tax evasion.

Stamp Duty Mitigation can be employed in any transactions, both residential in addition to commercial. The higher the cost of the transaction, the more beneficial will be the scheme. Though the entire benefit from the Stamp Duty Mitigation planning is going to be for transactions above £500,000, for transactions from the range of £250,000, you can obtain substantial savings. Usually you'll need to pay the advisers 50% of your SDLT plus applicable VAT. The balance is what it will save you and as you can see, for high transactions, the savings shall be substantial.

A large number of cases of Stamp Duty Mitigation have been done in the United Kingdom successfully. The tax planning method has been questioned on a few occasions by HMRC, but they have been satisfied by the clarifications. This is that the tax planning is carried out utilizing a legal loop hole for reducing stamp duty. Courts have time and again held that utilizing a legal loop hole to lessen tax is legal and it's the job of the Government to plug the loop hole.

The Tax Planners who suggest Stamp Duty Mitigation are so clear on the success of the scheme, that they give you a 100 % refund of fees in the event of a successful challenge by HMRC. There are a number of Chartered Accountants too who advise their customers to go into for Stamp Duty Mitigation as they are convinced of its validity. In fact you may get your solicitor to speak with them, so that you know what papers that you are signing, for Stamp Duty Mitigation. However they might insist on a non disclosure agreement to generally be signed, before they part with the details about the scheme.

As it is legal and incorporates all the paperwork perfectly done, why not take a look at tax planning to minimize your SDLT? You can take benefit from Stamp Duty Mitigation provided the entire process of buying has not been completed in all respects.

About the Author

I'm a self-employed tax consultant specialising in Stamp Duty Land Tax mitigation. I studied at Cambridge in the late 1970s, and worked at different major companies throughout the 80s and 90s in accountancy and investment banking. In 2002 I set up in business helping people mitigate a variety of taxes.

Avoiding Stamp Duty, UK Stamp Duty, Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Wesley-Lawson/230962

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