House buyers will have just 14 days in which to pay their Stamp Duty Land Tax bill from the end of next week.
The current timescale in England is 30 days, but this reduces to 14 on March 1.
Anyone missing the new deadline will be liable to a fixed £100 penalty and interest.
Stamp Duty is payable on most freehold and leasehold property purchases and may also be payable on the grant, surrender or variation of a lease.
The deadline for filing the return and paying the tax runs from the ‘effective date’ of the transaction – usually completion.
Ann-Marie Clow, solicitor specialising in property at Greenwoods law firm, said: “Reducing the filing and payment window to 14 days makes the timescale for getting the right paperwork and funds in place extremely tight.
“Most property buyers and tenants rely on their solicitors or accountants to prepare SDLT returns and arrange SDLT payments on their behalf.
“However, SDLT is a self-assessed tax, meaning it is the individual party’s responsibility to ensure the information on their SDLT return is correct.
“From March 1, therefore, parties will need to act promptly when asked to approve and sign their SDLT returns and transfer SDLT funds, to avoid missing the 14-day deadline and facing an automatic £100 fine.”
Conveyancers should not complete a property purchase unless they have all post completion funds in place. All this really does is imply that the Treasury has a cash flow crisis and needs the SDLT money after 14 days, not 30.
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Of course they are running short of money, the governments hair brained schemes have shortened their income. Too focused on winning the votes of the young population, the needless first time buyer exemption and 2nd home surcharge as drastically reduced the amount of stamp duty being paid.
They have robbed themselves of income trying to tempt people who are probably going to vote for Jeremy Corbyn anyway!
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I don’t know a solicitor or conveyancer who would complete without having all the funds required.
I do know, however, a solicitor and conveyancer who will sit on a clients money for as long as possible……all of them!
It is just a way of getting what’s owed in the treasury quicker. Once it’s left the hands of the client, I don’t see what’s wrong with that!
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Sitting on money was a temptation when interest rates were high, Firms made £000s, especially on volume mortgage work. But the moment interest rates dropped, this obliterated them.
But I agree, I dont know a conveyaner who doesn’t pay SDLT on the day of completion, so the story/Government change makes no odds.
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Well that is a surprise another £100 fixed penalty. Government is fixated on loads of fixed penalties as a way of generating extra income.
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What penalties do we apply to the Government when they fail to deliver in so many aspects of their job.
I would be less bothered about their “fines” strategy if they stopped wasting Billions (and I have no political allegiance).
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