Stamp duty calculator

It works like income tax: you split the price into slices, charge each slice at its own rate, and add the slices up. The rate on one slice does not change the rate on another, so a higher price only costs more on the part above each threshold.

1. Take the price you're paying, including anything else given for the property.
2. Choose the bands that fit you: standard, first-time buyer, or a surcharge on top.
3. Charge each slice of the price at its band's rate.
4. Add the slices together. That total is the stamp duty.

These are the rates from 1 April 2025, read on GOV.UK in October 2026. Each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside its band.

First-time buyer relief is lost entirely above £500,000, and the standard rates apply to the whole price instead. Neither surcharge applies below £40,000. Above £500,000 a company pays a single 17% on the whole price unless a relief applies, in which case the higher rates apply instead (GOV.UK, updated 2 May 2025).

Buying commercial or mixed-use property, such as a shop with a flat above? Different rates apply, and the higher rates and the non-resident surcharge don't (GOV.UK, read October 2026). Speak with Nathan if your purchase isn't straightforward residential.

First-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% on the slice from £300,001 to £500,000. Above £500,000 the relief is lost entirely, not tapered (HMRC rates from 1 April 2025, read on GOV.UK in October 2026).

At £500,000 a first-time buyer pays £10,000. At £500,001 they pay £15,000: £5,000 more, for one pound.

Each person buying must be a first-time buyer, meaning they have not owned a home, or a share of one, at any time or anywhere in the world, including one inherited or given. Each of them must also intend to live there as their only or main home. If only one of a married couple is buying, the other's history doesn't count for this relief.

But if your spouse or civil partner owns a home when you complete, you're treated as one unit and the higher rates can apply instead (see buy-to-let and second homes).

If you'll own more than one home at the end of completion day, you usually pay the higher rates: 5% on top of each band, on a purchase of £40,000 or more (GOV.UK, updated 1 April 2025, read October 2026). The surcharge rose from 3% to 5% for purchases from 31 October 2024.

A £300,000 buy-to-let bought by someone who already owns their home: £20,000 in stamp duty, against £5,000 at the standard rates.

The rules look at the household, not just the name on the deed. A married couple or civil partners are treated as one unit even if only one of them is buying, and if any joint buyer would pay the higher rates, the whole purchase does.

A holiday let is a home for stamp duty purposes, so it follows the same rule as a second home: if you'll own another home when you complete, the higher rates usually apply. A static caravan or mobile home that isn't a permanent fixture doesn't count as a home for the higher rates (GOV.UK, read October 2026).

If you're replacing your main home and it's sold by the day you complete, you pay the standard rates. If it isn't sold yet, you pay the higher rates, because on that day you own two homes.

Sell the old home within 3 years and you can claim back the extra the higher rates added. The claim must reach HMRC within 12 months of the sale, or of the filing date of the new purchase's return if that's later (GOV.UK, read October 2026). It isn't automatic.

On a £450,000 move with the old home still unsold, the bill is £35,000. Once it's sold, about £22,500 of that can be reclaimed, leaving £12,500.

Your solicitor or an accountant can confirm whether the refund applies to you.

If you haven't been in the UK for at least 183 days in the 12 months before you buy, you pay 2% on top of the other rates that apply to you, first-time buyer and higher rates included (GOV.UK, updated 1 April 2025, read October 2026).

Days anywhere in the UK count, and you count a day if you're in the UK at the end of it. Nationality, visa status and the Statutory Residence Test don't come into it. If any joint buyer is non-resident, all of them are treated that way, except that a married couple or civil partners buying together are both treated as UK resident if either of them is.

On a £700,000 home, a non-UK resident pays £39,000; a UK resident would pay £25,000.

The surcharge can be refunded later. A refund of the non-resident surcharge can be claimed if you are then present in the UK for at least 183 days in any continuous 365-day period, falling between 364 days before and 365 days after the purchase. Source: GOV.UK, read October 2026.

Expat mortgage calculator

A company pays the higher rates on a home of £40,000 or more. Above £500,000 a company pays a single 17% on the whole price unless a relief applies, in which case the higher rates apply instead. A non-resident company pays 2% on top (GOV.UK, updated 2 May 2025, read October 2026).

Reliefs from the 17% rate exist for property used in a property rental business, bought by a developer or trader, made available to the public in a trade, occupied by employees, and a few other cases, each with its own conditions (GOV.UK, read October 2026). A company holding a home may also owe the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings each year.

On a £600,000 home: £102,000 at the single company rate, or £50,000 at the higher rates if a relief applies.

Whether a relief applies, and whether a company is the right way to buy at all, is a question for an accountant. We can look at the mortgage either way.

Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England and Northern Ireland only. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, collected by Revenue Scotland, and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority. Each has its own rates and reliefs.

For a figure, use the official calculators:

• Revenue Scotland's LBTT calculator
• the Welsh Revenue Authority's LTT calculator, on GOV.WALES