Stamp Duty Land Tax Calculator (SDLT) UK 2026

Stamp Duty Land Tax Guide 2026/27

What do I need to know about SDLT Rates 2026/27 (Standard)?

Residential SDLT rates in England and Northern Ireland: 0% on first £250,000. 5% on £250,001 to £925,000. 10% on £925,001 to £1,500,000. 12% above £1,500,000. These are marginal rates — only the portion in each band is taxed at that rate. A £350,000 purchase: £0 on the first £250,000 + 5% on £100,000 = £5,000 SDLT. SDLT applies only in England and Northern Ireland — Scotland uses Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT); Wales uses Land Transaction Tax (LTT).

What should I know about First-Time Buyer Relief?

First-time buyers pay no SDLT on the first £425,000 of the purchase price (for properties up to £625,000). 5% on £425,001 to £625,000. Standard rates apply above £625,000. Example: FTB buying at £500,000 → 0% on £425,000 = £0, then 5% on £75,000 = £3,750. Total: £3,750. Without FTB relief: standard rate would be 0% on £250,000 + 5% on £250,000 = £12,500. FTB saving: £8,750. FTB relief requires that all purchasers are first-time buyers and the property will be their only home. Partial ownership through a previous shared ownership scheme or an inherited share can sometimes disqualify a buyer from first-time buyer status — always check your specific situation rather than assume.

What should I know about Additional Dwelling Surcharge?

Buying an additional residential property (buy-to-let, second home, holiday home) incurs a 3% surcharge on top of standard rates. All SDLT bands increase by 3 percentage points. A £250,000 additional property: standard SDLT = £0, with surcharge = 3% × £250,000 = £7,500. A £350,000 additional property: standard £5,000 + 3% surcharge on full £350,000 = £10,500. Total: £15,500. The surcharge applies even if buying jointly where one buyer already owns another property. It can be reclaimed if the previous main residence is sold within 3 years of buying the new one, effectively refunding the surcharge once the old property is no longer owned.

What should I know about Payment and Returns?

SDLT must be paid and a return submitted within 14 days of completion. Responsibility falls on the buyer (or their solicitor/conveyancer who handles this in practice). Late filing penalty: £100 after 3 months, £200 after 6 months, plus interest on unpaid SDLT. SDLT is non-negotiable and cannot be reduced by adjusting the price allocation between fixtures/fittings and the property — HMRC scrutinises artificial price splitting. Scotland and Wales have separate devolved property taxes — LBTT and LTT respectively — with their own bands and rates, so this SDLT calculation applies only to property purchases in England and Northern Ireland.

Why Stamp Duty Is Calculated in Bands, Not as One Flat Rate

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in England and Northern Ireland is charged using a slice-based, progressive band structure similar to income tax: no tax is due on the portion of the price within the lowest band, then increasing rates apply only to the portion of the price falling within each successive band, not to the whole purchase price at the highest applicable rate. This means a property priced just above a band threshold doesn't suddenly incur a much larger total tax bill — only the slice above the threshold is taxed at the higher rate, so SDLT increases smoothly as price rises rather than in large step-jumps, a common point of confusion for buyers estimating costs.

Why First-Time Buyers and Additional-Property Buyers See Very Different Bills

Two important variations sit on top of the standard SDLT bands: first-time buyers typically benefit from relief, paying no SDLT up to a higher threshold than the standard bands allow, provided the purchase price doesn't exceed a cap above which the relief no longer applies at all. At the other end, buyers purchasing an additional residential property — commonly a second home or a buy-to-let — generally pay a surcharge on top of the standard rates across every band, applied from the very first pound of the purchase price. Because these two adjustments move the effective tax bill in opposite directions for otherwise identical purchase prices, it's essential to select the correct buyer category before relying on any SDLT estimate.

How Shared Ownership and Linked Transactions Affect SDLT

Shared ownership purchases offer buyers an unusual choice: pay SDLT on the full market value of the property upfront, or elect to pay it only on the share initially being purchased, with no further SDLT due as further shares are staircased up, in most cases, to full ownership, unless the share purchased takes the buyer to 100% in one transaction later. Opting to pay on the initial share alone generally reduces the upfront tax bill substantially, though the choice is made once and can't easily be revisited. Separately, "linked transactions" rules mean that when a buyer purchases multiple properties from the same seller, or as part of the same arrangement, SDLT is calculated as though it were a single purchase at the combined value, rather than letting several smaller purchases each benefit from the lower tax bands individually. This prevents what would otherwise be an easy way to reduce SDLT by artificially splitting one purchase into several smaller contracts. Both rules illustrate that SDLT isn't always a simple percentage of the price paid on a single property; the structure of the transaction itself can change what's taxable and when.

Worked Example: SDLT on a £350,000 Purchase

Stamp Duty Land Tax is calculated in bands, meaning each portion of the purchase price is taxed at the rate for that band, not the whole price at a single rate.

Note how only the £100,000 portion between £250,001 and £350,000 is taxed at 5% — not the entire £350,000 — which is why SDLT bills are always lower than simply multiplying the full price by the top applicable rate. A first-time buyer on the same £350,000 purchase would typically pay less, since first-time buyer relief usually raises the nil-rate threshold and sometimes the next band too (check current first-time buyer thresholds, as these are set separately from the standard bands and reviewed periodically).

SDLT Surcharges for Additional Properties

Buyers purchasing an additional residential property — most commonly a second home or a buy-to-let — typically face a surcharge on top of the standard SDLT bands, calculated across the entire purchase price (not just the portion above a threshold).

The additional-property surcharge rate has changed more than once since its introduction and is applied across the full purchase price rather than just the portion above a band threshold, which can make it a larger absolute cost than people expect — always check the current surcharge rate and any available refund provisions (for example, if a previous main residence is sold within a set period after the new purchase) before assuming a figure based on past rates.

Shared Ownership and Linked Transactions

Shared ownership purchases — where a buyer purchases a percentage share of a property and pays rent on the remainder, common with housing associations — have a specific SDLT election available: buyers can choose to pay SDLT upfront on the full market value of the property (often resulting in no further SDLT due on future staircasing purchases of additional shares, subject to current rules) or pay SDLT only on the share initially purchased, with further SDLT potentially due as additional shares are bought later. Linked transactions — where multiple property purchases from the same seller to the same buyer (or connected buyers) are treated as a single transaction for SDLT purposes — can also catch buyers off guard, since this rule prevents splitting what's effectively one larger purchase into several smaller transactions purely to access lower-rate bands repeatedly. Anyone buying multiple properties in a single deal, or a property alongside land or an adjoining interest from the same seller, should check whether linked transaction rules apply, since the combined value — not each individual price — determines which SDLT bands apply.