UK Stamp Duty Calculator
SDLT (England), LBTT (Scotland), or LTT (Wales) — first-time buyer relief and additional property surcharge included.
Property details
All three UK land taxes in one place
England, Scotland, and Wales each have their own property purchase tax. This calculator covers all three, with the correct current rates and reliefs.
SDLT — England & NI
Stamp Duty Land Tax for England and Northern Ireland. 0% up to £250,000, then 5%/10%/12% on higher bands. First-time buyers get 0% up to £425,000 with a 5% rate up to £625,000.
LBTT — Scotland
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. Different thresholds from England: 0% up to £145,000 (£175,000 for FTBs), then 2%/5%/10%/12% on higher bands. Additional Dwelling Supplement adds 6%.
LTT — Wales
Land Transaction Tax. 0% up to £225,000, then 6%/7.5%/10%/12%. Wales has no separate first-time buyer relief — the nil threshold applies to all buyers equally.
First-time buyer relief
In England, first-time buyers pay 0% on the first £425,000 and 5% on £425k–£625k. Above £625k, standard rates apply with no relief. Scotland raises the nil threshold to £175,000 for FTBs.
Additional property surcharge
Buying a second home, investment property, or buy-to-let? A 3% surcharge applies to every band in England and Wales. In Scotland, the Additional Dwelling Supplement is 6%.
Live calculation
Results update instantly as you change the price, region, or buyer type — no submit button, no waiting.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do I pay stamp duty?
SDLT (England/NI) must be paid to HMRC within 14 days of completing your property purchase. Your conveyancer or solicitor typically handles the submission. LBTT (Scotland) must be filed within 30 days. LTT (Wales) within 30 days.
Is there any stamp duty relief for first-time buyers buying above £625,000?
No — if you are a first-time buyer purchasing above £625,000 in England, the standard SDLT rates apply without any first-time buyer relief. The £625,000 cap is a hard cut-off. For purchases at £625,000 the FTB rate applies; at £625,001 it does not.
Can I claim back the 3% surcharge?
Yes, in one specific scenario: if you buy a new main home before selling your previous main home, you pay the 3% surcharge. But if you sell the previous home within 3 years of buying the new one, you can apply for a refund of the surcharge from HMRC.
Do I pay stamp duty on new-build properties?
Stamp duty applies to new-builds on the same basis as existing properties. Some developers offer to cover stamp duty as a sales incentive — check what is actually included in any developer offer, as they may be counting it against the property price.
What about shared ownership or help-to-buy?
Shared ownership has specific SDLT rules — you can either pay SDLT on the full market value (and pay nothing on future staircasing) or pay on the share you are buying now (and pay more each time you staircase). Help to Buy Equity Loan also has considerations around how SDLT is applied. Consult a solicitor for these schemes.
Understanding UK Stamp Duty
Stamp duty is the tax you pay when buying property or land above a certain price in the UK. It is one of the largest upfront costs of moving home — often running into tens of thousands of pounds — yet many buyers only discover the exact figure late in the process. Because the three UK nations each run their own system, the amount you owe depends not just on the price but on where the property sits.
Three taxes, three nations
England and Northern Ireland use Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), administered by HMRC. Scotland replaced SDLT with the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in 2015, run by Revenue Scotland. Wales introduced the Land Transaction Tax (LTT) in 2018, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority. The principle is the same in all three — a banded, progressive tax — but the thresholds and rates differ, so the same £400,000 home incurs different tax in Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Manchester.
How the banded system works
Like income tax, stamp duty is charged in slices, not as a single flat rate on the whole price. In England, a standard buyer pays 0% on the first £250,000, 5% on the portion from £250,001 to £925,000, 10% up to £1.5m, and 12% above that. So on a £400,000 home you pay nothing on the first £250,000 and 5% on the remaining £150,000 — £7,500 total, an effective rate of 1.9%, not 5%. Understanding this prevents the common mistake of multiplying the whole price by the top band rate.
First-time buyer relief
First-time buyers in England pay no SDLT on the first £425,000 and 5% on the portion up to £625,000. Above a £625,000 purchase price the relief disappears entirely and standard rates apply. Scotland lifts the LBTT nil-rate band to £175,000 for first-time buyers. Wales offers no separate first-time buyer relief — the standard nil-rate threshold applies to everyone. This relief can save a first-time buyer several thousand pounds, so confirming eligibility (neither you nor anyone buying with you has ever owned property, anywhere in the world) is worth doing carefully.
The additional property surcharge
If you are buying a second home, a buy-to-let, or any additional residential property, a surcharge applies on top of the standard rates — 3% per band in England and Wales, and a 6% Additional Dwelling Supplement in Scotland. This catches buyers who complete on a new home before selling their old one; if you sell the previous main residence within 36 months, you can reclaim the surcharge from the relevant tax authority. The surcharge materially changes the maths for investors and should be factored into any buy-to-let yield calculation.
Timing and payment
SDLT must be filed and paid within 14 days of completion in England and Northern Ireland; LBTT and LTT allow 30 days. In practice your conveyancer or solicitor submits the return and collects the funds at completion, so you rarely deal with the tax authority directly. But the money must be available on completion day — it cannot usually be added to the mortgage — so budgeting for stamp duty alongside the deposit, legal fees, and survey costs is essential to avoid a last-minute shortfall.