Apply for a refund of the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (2024)

When to apply for a refund of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

You can apply for a refund of the higher rates of SDLT for additional properties if you’ve sold what was previously your main home. You have to be either the:

main buyer of the property charged at the higher rate of SDLT
agent acting for the main buyer

You must have sold your previous main home within 3 years of buying the new property, unless exceptional circ*mstances apply.

Properties sold on or after 29 October 2018

If you sold your previous main home on or after 29 October 2018, HMRC must receive your request for a refund by whichever date is the later of:

12 months after the date of sale
12 months after the filing date of the SDLT return for your new main home

Properties sold on or before 28 October 2018

If you sold your previous main home on or before 28 October 2018, HMRC must receive your request for a refund by whichever date is the later of:

It took longer than 3 years to sell your previous home

You can still apply for a refund if:

you bought your new home on or after 1 January 2017
exceptional circ*mstances stopped you from selling your previous home
you have now sold your previous home

The types of circ*mstances that may qualify as exceptional usually affect large groups of people and not only the buyer or seller in an individual transaction. These include, but are not limited to:

being stopped from selling the property because of government imposed restrictions
an action taken by a public authority stopping the sale

Events which normally occur when buying and selling property are not treated as exceptional circ*mstances. These events include, but are not limited to:

not being able to find a buyer at the price you want
delays in agreeing terms with the buyer
the breakdown in a chain of transactions

To be eligible for the refund, you must sell your previous home without further delay once the reason for the original delay has ended.

Once this has happened, you can write to HMRC to ask for a refund. You must include:

an explanation of why you were prevented from selling your previous main home within 3 years
the information listed in the ‘Before you start’ section of this guide

You should send the information to:

BT Stamp Duty Land Tax
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1HD

Before you start

To apply for a refund, you will need:

your details
the main buyer’s details, if not your own
details of the property that attracted the higher rates of SDLT, including the effective date of purchase and the SDLT unique transaction reference number
details of the previous main home you’ve sold, including the effective date of sale, the address of the property and the name of the buyer
the amount of tax paid on the property that attracted the higher rates of SDLT
the amount of tax you’re asking to be repaid
the bank account and sort code details of the person who should receive the payment

If your refund is going to an agent rather than the purchaser, you’ll need to attach a covering letter and signed purchaser authority. This should be in JPEG or PDF format, and a maximum of 5MB in size.

If you’re an agent acting on behalf of the main buyer, you’ll also need a signed letter of consent from them.