Is Stamp Duty Land Tax on Real estate Always Necessary? - By: Reynaldo Marshall

SDLT - many of us hate paying it on property transactions, however, you have to. Or do you? Tax avoidance scheme promoters charge a considerable fee but may completely eradicate Stamp Duty Land Tax payable to the HMRC. The HMRC naturally don't like this and they're issuing propoganda weekly to try to decrease this avoidance technique. Effective SDLT Schemes are targeted and so are intermediaries and players in the field, such as the CML, mortgage providers, along with the SRA. Schemes are accessible for cash buyers, mortgage buyers, limited companies, UK individuals, married couples, unmarried couples and UK trusts.

The HMRC are having a supposed attack 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 identify likely transactions. In some instances, usually where the scheme provider made mistakes or simply just didn't implement tax avoidance whatsoever, they've been successful. One such scenario led to the solicitor involved being struck off, plus the SRA compensated all the clients involved to the full extent of the Stamp Duty Land Tax. The reality is the loopholes exist in the law. The HMRC continues to be astonishingly unsuccessful in actual fact in challenging Stamp Duty avoidance in the courts - or rather the 1st Tier Tax Tribunal. Their best weapon is propoganda, and let's face it, it works. Providers have been complaining that business is down purely for it. Newspaper reports, blogs, and threats to the CML and SRA are increasingly being effective. They particularly take pleasure in threatening retrospective legislation but it is not going to happen.

They could consider changing the legislation, but on balance, it's probably not worthwhile for them. Changing legislation is spectacularly tricky and time-consuming, and who's to say they'll draft it much better next time? Hypothetically, they can "shut down" Stamp Duty schemes, but Goodhart's Law suggests that for every scheme shut down, a new one enters into existence. The HMRC have clearly taken the view that they don't really need to take the trouble - they're just scare-mongering and utilizing propoganda, plus attempting to take the moral line. They don't mention that the government itself were complicit in the largest ever Stamp Duty avoidance transaction when disposing the Chelsea Barracks.

About the Author

I'm a self-employed tax consultant specialising in Stamp Duty avoidance. I studied at Oxford in the late 1970s, and worked for different major corporates throughout the 80s and 90s in management consultancy and investment banking. In 2004 I set up in business helping people mitigate a variety of taxes.

Avoiding SDLT, Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Reynaldo-Marshall/231542

Additional Articles From - Home | News & politics | Commentary