Buying Houses and SDLT- Know the Truth - By: Wesley Lawson

Stamp Duty Land Tax - most people hate paying it on real estate transactions, however, you have to. Or does one? Tax avoidance scheme promoters charge a considerable fee but may completely eliminate Stamp Duty Land Tax payable to the HMRC. The HMRC naturally aren't happy with this and they're issuing propoganda weekly as a measure to reduce this avoidance technique. Effective SDLT Schemes are targeted and so are intermediaries and players in the business, including the CML, mortgage providers, as well as the SRA. Schemes are accessible for cash buyers, mortgage buyers, limited companies, UK individuals, married people, unmarried partners and UK trusts.

The HMRC are having a supposed crackdown on Stamp Duty Land Tax avoidance. They have apparently been investigating past land transactions and apparently have already been utilizing the land registry's system to spot likely transactions. In some instances, usually where the scheme provider made mistakes or simply just didn't implement tax avoidance at all, they have been successful. One such scenario resulted in the solicitor involved being struck off, plus the SRA compensated all of the clients involved to the full extent of the Stamp Duty Land Tax. The reality is the loopholes exist in the law. The HMRC has been spectacularly unsuccessful in actual fact in challenging Stamp Duty Land Tax avoidance within the courts - or rather the First Tier Tax Tribunal. Their best weapon is propoganda, and let's face it, it works. Providers are already complaining that business is down purely for it. Newspaper articles, blogs, and threats to the CML and SRA are being successful. They particularly enjoy threatening retrospective legislation but it's never going to happen.

They might consider changing the legislation, but on balance, it's probably not worthwhile for them. Changing legislation is spectacularly complicated and time-consuming, and who's to say they'll draft it much better the next time? In theory, they can "shut down" Stamp Duty Land Tax schemes, but Goodhart's Law means that for every scheme shut down, another one enters into existence. The HMRC have clearly taken the view that they don't need to take the trouble - they're just scare-mongering and using propoganda, plus attempting to take the ethical line. They don't mention that the government itself were complicit in the biggest ever Stamp Duty Land Tax avoidance transaction when selling the Chelsea Barracks.

About the Author

I am a self-employed tax consultant specialising in SDLT avoidance. I studied at Cambridge in the late 1970s, and worked for different major corporates during the 80s and 90s in management consultancy and merchant banking. In 2001 I set up in business helping people pay less tax.

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

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