Can the 3% surcharge be avoided by not going on the legal title?

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“I have been referred to you on a stamp duty query. My mother died just over 10 years ago and in her will bequeathed me her share of her deceased mother’s home. Both her and her brother (my uncle) were noted in the will at tenants in common. I’m buying my first home with my partner and I need to know if I need to pay the additional rate of stamp duty or can I avoid this by not having my name on the deed at purchase, but add my name to the deed later with no tax implications?”

Source: Mark

 


If you still have a beneficial interest in your grandmother’s house which is worth more that £40,000 and which is not subject to a lease with 21 years or more to run, the purchase of an interest in another dwelling will be subject to the 3% SDLT surcharge provided that that interest is worth more than £40,000 and is not a replacement for your only or main residence.

This will be the case whether you are registered as the owner or not.

I am not sure what you mean by ‘not having my name on the deed of purchase’.  If the only purchaser is, in fact, your partner (by which I assume you do not mean your ‘civil partner’) who then gives you an interest in the new property that would mean that your ownership of an interest in another dwelling could be ignored (and the gift would not attract SDLT) but as you say you are purchasing jointly this would not seem to be the position here.

It seems to me that the SDLT surcharge will be payable on your purchase.

At the time of publication this response was correct however as tax legislation and practice change from time-to-time you should take specific advice before taking any action.

Please refer to Ann’s free resource if you have any further stamp duty land tax questions. This resource covers a wide range of queries and using the available tags you can filter the results to find a specific query.

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