Tax
You may need to pay: Stamp Duty Land Tax when you buy a home in England; Land Transaction Tax when you buy a home in Wales; or Capital Gains Tax when you sell a home.
Stamp Duty Land Tax
You usually pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) if you buy a property for more than £125,000. If it’s your first home, you don’t have to pay tax if the property is £300,000 or less.
The rate you pay depends on the purchase price of the property. You still have to pay if you swap something of economic value for a property, eg shares or another property.
Capital Gains Tax
You don’t pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) your home if all of the following apply:
- You’ve lived in it as your main home for all the time you’ve owned it.
- You haven’t let part of it out or used part of it for business only.
- The grounds, including the buildings, are smaller than 5,000 square metres (just over an acre)Y
This is because you automatically get a tax relief called Private Residence Relief. You don’t need to do anything. If you don’t meet all these criteria you may have to pay some Capital Gains Tax.
