HMRC’s calculator could be ruining your firm’s reputation

SDLT Compass has written a blog explaining HMRC’s calculator (for stamp duty) and how it might possibly be ruining your firm’s reputation.

Do not use this calculator for residential properties bought on or after 23rd September 2022

Go to the HMRC SDLT Calculator and that’s the message which greets you.  

Beneath it, a paragraph explains further that the calculator has yet to be updated to reflect the changes made in Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s eventful ‘mini-budget’ on the 23rd September. Twelve days later, this remains the case. Add to this that the submission software has also not yet been updated, and it’s not been a great couple of weeks to be a residential conveyancer… 

Not the first issue 

But even before this latest confluence of calamity, HMRC’s calculator may have been making your firm look worse and worse – the only difference now is that you, and your clients, are more aware. 

HMRC’s calculator is a simple beast. It’s designed in the main to be something that is usable by members of the general public, financial advisers, mortgage brokers, estate agents and solicitors. In order to cover all those bases, the calculator was left very simple. Unfortunately, SDLT is not very simple. A tax with 49 exemptions, exceptions and reliefs cannot adequately be covered by something very simple. 

If you are dealing with a straightforward purchase of a terraced house by a young couple with a dog, sure, the SDLT calculator should just about get you over the finish line with no issues.

But what if: 
    • Your client is purchasing a property with a sizeable amount of land, not all of which is exclusively used by the freeholder
    • The property has a fully self-contained annexe
    • The property consists of multiple dwellings on one title, for example a manor house with separate gatehouse cottage in the grounds 

The tip of the iceberg 

These are just a small handful of relevant examples which can impact on the SDLT actually due on a purchase, which HMRC’s calculator is not equipped to identify with any degree of accuracy. 

In the past two years, claims against firms for missed reliefs on Stamp Duty have been on the increase. Mixed Use, Multiple Dwellings Relief and others are causing headaches for all concerned and leading to disgruntled clients being encouraged to make claims against firms they feel have ‘let them down’. Many claims-farms now see missed SDLT reliefs as the ‘new PPI’ and the surge in claims suggests that they may be onto something. 

Don’t risk it!

In a crowded marketplace, your firm’s reputation is one of the key factors which may help a client make a decision to use you over someone else. Is it really worth risking that reputation on using a calculator which is out of date, over simplistic and not fit for purpose? A calculator which HMRC themselves have historically described as intended merely as ‘a guide’? 

 

Make the smart choice – switch to SDLT Compass today and keep your firm’s reputation – and clients – safe as houses. 

 

Kindly shared by SDLT Compass

Main photo courtesy of Pixabay