As well as facilitating the core legal dialogue between vendors and purchasers, it has long been the norm for solicitors to advise on the correct level of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) payable to HMRC in England Wales and Northern Ireland, Land Transaction Tax (LTT) in Wales or Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) to Revenue Scotland, north of the tax border.
However, owing to the ever increasing complexity of the tax that requires a complete knowledge of not only the property but also its use, the clients’ other properties and business affairs and, in some cases, the vendors–conveyancing practitioners are, quite understandably, getting these calculations wrong. The opaque and often misleading HMRC online calculator and the less than completely helpful SDLT Helpline mean that non-tax specialists are increasingly being called upon to make a “judgement call” on Land Tax matters that are beyond their experience and usually outside the fee budget that they have been given
