Wealthy home buyers avoid Stamp Duty tax
Wealthy British and foreign buyers are avoiding the 5% Stamp Duty tax on as many as one in three houses sold for more than £1 million, according to an investigation by The Times.
The total amount of money lost in tax revenue is estimated to be £500 million, but some tax specialists think it could be closer to £1 billion.
Much of the Stamp Duty avoidance is completed with the use of offshore companies in property purchases. Transactions are classed as corporate and are not technically a property sale; this means that there is no Stamp Duty obligation.
2 December 2011
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