UK money guide
How stamp duty works when you buy a home in the UK
Published · Free UK Tools editorial
Stamp duty is the informal name for the tax you may pay when you buy a property. The formal names differ by nation: Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in England and Northern Ireland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in Scotland, and Land Transaction Tax (LTT) in Wales. The idea is shared — a tax on the purchase price — but the bands, reliefs and surcharges are not.
This guide is a buyer’s explanation, not a conveyancing manual. Deadlines, eligibility and replacements of a main home have legal tests. Use it to budget, then confirm with your solicitor and the official pages linked at the end.
It is usually a slice tax, not a flat percentage of the whole price
A common mistake is to multiply the whole purchase price by one rate. Residential stamp duty-style taxes are typically progressive: each band of the price is taxed at that band’s rate, then the slices are added up. That is why the effective rate (tax ÷ price) is lower than the top rate you touch, and why crossing a threshold can change the bill more than a buyer expects.
Think of it like Income Tax bands, but applied to a house price instead of a salary. A small price cut that drops you into a lower slice can save more tax than the same cut in the middle of a band.
England and Northern Ireland (SDLT) — a standard residential walk-through
This site’s calculator uses the commonly published residential SDLT structure from 1 April 2025: 0% on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 (the slice from £125,001 to £250,000), then 5% on the next slice, with higher rates on more expensive homes. First-time buyer relief and the additional-property surcharge sit on top of that skeleton.
Worked example: a £300,000 main residence in England, not a first-time buyer and not an additional property. The first £125,000 is charged at 0% (£0). The next £125,000 is charged at 2% (£2,500). The remaining £50,000 is charged at 5% (£2,500). Estimated SDLT is £5,000 — an effective rate of about 1.67%, not 5% of £300,000.
| Slice of the price | Rate | Tax on that slice |
|---|---|---|
| £0 – £125,000 | 0% | £0 |
| £125,001 – £250,000 | 2% | £2,500 |
| £250,001 – £300,000 | 5% | £2,500 |
| Total | — | £5,000 |
£300,000 standard residential SDLT (England & NI, this site’s 1 April 2025 structure).
First-time buyers are not always “zero stamp duty”
Eligible first-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland may pay 0% up to £300,000 and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000, but only when the purchase price is £500,000 or less and they meet the legal tests (typically never having owned a residential property, and intending to live in the home). Above £500,000, first-time relief usually falls away and standard rates apply to the whole price.
On this site’s model, an eligible first-time buyer of a £400,000 home pays 0% on the first £300,000 and 5% on the remaining £100,000 = £5,000. That is the same cash tax as the £300,000 standard example above, but a lower effective rate (1.25%) because the price is higher.
“First-time buyer” is a legal status, not a vibe. Joint purchases can fail the test if one buyer has owned before. Check the HMRC rules rather than assuming the relief.
Additional properties usually cost more
Buying a second home or a buy-to-let while you already own a dwelling typically attracts a surcharge on top of the standard residential rates. Replacing a main residence — selling one home and buying another — has special timing rules. Those rules are easy to get wrong in a web form, which is why our calculator labels additional-property results as a simplified model.
If you are moving home and there will be a period when you own two properties, speak to your conveyancer before you treat a surcharge estimate as final. Refunds and time limits exist in some cases; they are not automatic.
Scotland and Wales set their own taxes
Scotland’s LBTT and Wales’s LTT are separate taxes with their own thresholds, first-time buyer treatment and higher rates for additional dwellings. You cannot safely apply an English SDLT table to a Glasgow or Cardiff purchase. Choose the correct nation in the stamp duty calculator so the bands match the country of the property — not where you currently live, if those differ.
Each tax authority publishes official calculators and guidance. Ours is a planning estimate with a band breakdown you can copy into a budget. The filing and payment is almost always handled by the conveyancer around completion.
Where stamp duty sits in a house-buying budget
Stamp duty is an upfront cost, usually due shortly after completion (for SDLT, often within 14 days — your solicitor will confirm the deadline). It sits alongside the deposit, legal fees, survey and any broker fee. It is not a monthly outgoing like the mortgage or Council Tax.
A practical sequence on this site: estimate purchase tax here, monthly repayment on the mortgage calculator, ongoing local tax on the Council Tax helper, and whether the salary supports that monthly total on the take-home calculator. Savings pay the stamp duty; net pay services the loan.
Related calculators
Run the numbers after reading — nothing you type is stored.
- UK Stamp Duty CalculatorCalculate SDLT, LBTT and LTT for England, NI, Scotland and Wales.
- UK Mortgage CalculatorEstimate monthly mortgage repayments from loan amount, rate and term.
- UK Council Tax Band HelperEstimate Council Tax band from 1991/2003 values and bill from Band D.
- UK Income Tax / Take-home Pay CalculatorEstimate income tax, National Insurance and take-home pay (UK).
Official sources
Frequently asked questions
Is stamp duty the same everywhere in the UK?
Do I pay the top rate on the whole house price?
When is it paid?
Guidance only — not financial, tax or legal advice. Confirm important figures with official sources or a qualified professional. See how we build calculators on the methodology page.
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