Stamp Duty Calculator

How to use

Enter the price you're paying and choose where the property is — that picks the right tax, because England and Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales each charge their own. Then tick whichever of the three circumstances apply: first-time buyer, second home or buy-to-let, and non-UK resident. The result shows the total, the band-by-band working, and what the identical purchase would cost in the other two nations.

The band table is worth reading rather than skipping. It is the answer to the question people usually get wrong, and it is also the thing to check against the figure your conveyancer quotes you.

“UK stamp duty” is three different taxes

Property transaction tax was devolved to Scotland in 2015 and to Wales in 2018, and the three nations have since moved apart — not just in the rates but in the structure:

• England or Northern Ireland — Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), collected by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Nil-rate band to £125,000. Has first-time buyer relief and a non-resident surcharge.
• Scotland — Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), collected by Revenue Scotland. Nil-rate band to £145,000, a lower entry point but a higher 8% second-home supplement.
• Wales — Land Transaction Tax (LTT), collected by Welsh Revenue Authority. The highest nil-rate band in the UK at £225,000, and deliberately no first-time buyer relief because that threshold already covers most first purchases.

The practical effect on a £200,000 home: £1,500 in England, £1,100 in Scotland, and £0 in Wales. Move up to £400,000 and the ranking inverts — £10,000 in England, £13,350 in Scotland, £10,500 in Wales — because Scotland's higher bands bite earlier. There is no general rule about which nation is cheaper. It depends on the price.

How the bands actually work

Stamp duty is a slab tax in the same sense Income Tax is: each portion of the price is charged at its own rate, and reaching a higher band does not re-tax the money below it. Since 2014 no version of it has charged one rate on the whole price.

HMRC's own worked example makes it concrete. On £295,000 in England:

• 0% on the £125,000 up to £125,000 = £0
• 2% on the £125,000 between £125,000 and £250,000 = £2,500
• 5% on the £45,000 between £250,000 and £295,000 = £2,250

Total: £4,750. That is 1.61% of the price, even though the top band reached is 5%. If you had applied 5% to the whole price you would have budgeted £14,750 — £10,000 too much.

First-time buyer relief and its cliff edge

In England and Northern Ireland, first-time buyer relief lifts the nil-rate band from £125,000 to £300,000 and charges 5% on the slice between £300,000 and £500,000. At the top of its range it saves £5,000.

Then it stops — completely. At £500,000 a first-time buyer pays £10,000; at £500,001 the standard bands apply to the entire price and the bill is £15,000. One pound of price costs £5,000 of tax. There is no taper and no partial relief, which makes £500,000 one of the hardest negotiating lines in the UK housing market: if a seller wants £510,000, that £10,000 of extra price really costs you £15,500 once the forfeited relief and the duty on the extra itself are counted.

To qualify, you — and everyone buying with you — must never have owned or part-owned a residential property anywhere in the world, including one inherited or received as a gift. One non-qualifying buyer disqualifies the whole purchase, which catches out couples where one partner previously owned a flat.

Scotland's relief works differently: the nil band rises to £175,000 with no upper price limit, so it is smaller but it never vanishes. Wales offers none.

Second homes, buy-to-let and the surcharge

If you will own more than one dwelling once the purchase completes, the higher rates apply. The structure differs by nation, and this is where the biggest sums are:

• England & Northern Ireland: 5% added to every band, including the nil-rate band — so tax starts at the first pound. A £250,000 buy-to-let goes from £2,500 to £15,000.
• Scotland: the Additional Dwelling Supplement at 8% of the whole price, the steepest second-home charge in the UK.
• Wales: an entirely separate higher-rate table rather than a surcharge, starting at 5% with its own band edges. Comparing it to the main rates band by band doesn't work — the thresholds are in different places.

Two things reliably surprise people. The surcharge applies even if the property you already own is abroad, or is a share of one you inherited. And it applies when you buy your next main home before selling your current one — you pay the higher rate upfront and reclaim it after the old home sells, within three years in England and Wales. That refund is yours to claim; no one prompts you.

Budgeting for the whole purchase

Stamp duty is cash due on completion day and cannot be added to your mortgage, so it belongs in the same column as your deposit rather than in your monthly costs:

• The monthly side. Once you know the price, work out the monthly payment and total interest over the term — that is the number that decides whether the house is affordable, while the duty decides whether you can complete at all.
• What you can commit monthly. Lenders work from gross income, but the payment has to clear your actual net pay. Check what you take home after tax, National Insurance and pension before deciding what monthly figure is comfortable.
• The rest of the completion pot. Beyond duty and deposit: legal fees, searches, a survey, mortgage arrangement fees, and removals. A useful planning rule is to have the duty plus £2,000–£4,000 available in cash on top of the deposit.

Tips and common mistakes

• Don't apply one rate to the whole price. The commonest error, and it always overstates the bill. Use the band table above.
• Check the nation, not your postcode habits. A Scottish buyer purchasing in England pays SDLT, and vice versa. The property's location is what counts.
• Mind the £500,000 line. If you're a first-time buyer offering anywhere near it, the tax cliff is worth more than most negotiating positions.
• Claim your surcharge refund. If you paid the higher rate because your old home hadn't sold, the reclaim is time-limited after the sale completes. Diarise it the day you exchange.
• Ask about the property's status, not just the price. Mixed-use, annexes, more than one dwelling on a title, and unfinished properties are all taxed under different rules — sometimes far more cheaply. Your conveyancer should raise it; if the purchase is unusual, ask.