Finance Calculator
Stamp Duty Calculator
Work out the duty on a UK property purchase, band by band. Covers Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Northern Ireland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, and Land Transaction Tax in Wales — with first-time buyer relief, additional-property rates and the non-resident surcharge.
Stamp Duty Calculator
UK duty by band, with reliefs and surcharges
The purchase price
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
Results
Total Duty
£15,000
Standard residential rates
Effective Rate
3.00%
of the purchase price
Band Breakdown — Standard residential rates
| Band | Rate | Taxable | Duty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 0% | £125,000 | £0.00 |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 2% | £125,000 | £2,500.00 |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% | £250,000 | £12,500.00 |
| Band duty | £15,000.00 | ||
The Same Purchase Elsewhere in the UK
All UK stamp duty is charged on a marginal basis: each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside its band, never to the whole price. The effective rate here is 3.00%, well below the top band rate applied.
Rates are the statutory figures in force from 1 April 2025, administered by HMRC. They change at each Budget, so confirm against the official tables before committing.
Step-by-Step Calculation
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) — England & N. Ireland
Residential · Home mover (main residence)
Schedule: Standard residential rates
Step 1 — Apply each band to its slice of the price
Up to £125,000: £125,000 × 0% = £0.00
£125,001 to £250,000: £125,000 × 2% = £2,500.00
£250,001 to £925,000: £250,000 × 5% = £12,500.00
Band duty = £15,000.00
Result
Total duty = £15,000.00
Effective rate = £15,000.00 ÷ £500,000 × 100 = 3.00%
Three Taxes, One Name
"Stamp duty" covers three separate taxes in the UK, each with its own rates, thresholds and collecting authority. The same £500,000 house attracts £15,000 in England, £23,350 in Scotland and £18,000 in Wales.
All three share the same mechanism: a marginal or "slice" system, where each rate applies only to the portion of the price inside its band. This replaced the old slab system in 2014, under which crossing a threshold re-rated the entire price and created large distortions just above each boundary.
The practical consequence is that your effective rate is always well below the top band you reach. A £500,000 purchase touches the 5% band but works out at 3.00% overall.
How the Calculation Works
1. Duty by Band
2. Surcharges
3. Effective Rate
Residential Rate Bands
England & Northern Ireland (SDLT), from 1 April 2025:
| Portion of Price | Standard | First-Time Buyer | Additional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 0% | 0% | 5% |
| £125,001–£250,000 | 2% | 0% | 7% |
| £250,001–£300,000 | 5% | 0% | 10% |
| £300,001–£500,000 | 5% | 5% | 10% |
| £500,001–£925,000 | 5% | relief lost | 10% |
| £925,001–£1,500,000 | 10% | — | 15% |
| Above £1,500,000 | 12% | — | 17% |
Scotland (LBTT) and Wales (LTT) use different thresholds entirely:
| Scotland Band | Rate | Wales Band | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to £145,000 | 0% | Up to £225,000 | 0% |
| £145,001–£250,000 | 2% | £225,001–£400,000 | 6% |
| £250,001–£325,000 | 5% | £400,001–£750,000 | 7.5% |
| £325,001–£750,000 | 10% | £750,001–£1,500,000 | 10% |
| Above £750,000 | 12% | Above £1,500,000 | 12% |
Wales starts taxing latest, at £225,000, but then climbs steeply at 6%. Scotland starts earliest in substance, reaching 10% at £325,000 where England is still at 5%.
Why the Effective Rate Is What Matters
SDLT on a residential purchase, standard rates against additional-property rates:
| Price | Home Mover | Effective | Additional | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £125,000 | £0 | 0.00% | £6,250 | 5.00% |
| £250,000 | £2,500 | 1.00% | £15,000 | 6.00% |
| £400,000 | £10,000 | 2.50% | £30,000 | 7.50% |
| £500,000 | £15,000 | 3.00% | £40,000 | 8.00% |
| £925,000 | £36,250 | 3.92% | £82,500 | 8.92% |
| £1,500,000 | £93,750 | 6.25% | £168,750 | 11.25% |
| £2,000,000 | £153,750 | 7.69% | £253,750 | 12.69% |
Even at £2,000,000, where the top 12% band applies, the effective rate is 7.69%. Note too that the additional-property column runs exactly 5 percentage points above the standard one at every price — because a 5-point uplift in every band is arithmetically identical to 5% of the whole price.
The £500,000 First-Time Buyer Cliff Edge
The marginal system is designed to avoid sudden jumps, and it succeeds everywhere except here. First-time buyer relief in England and Northern Ireland is withdrawn entirely above £500,000 — not tapered:
| Price | Duty | Relief |
|---|---|---|
| £300,000 | £0 | Applied |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | Applied |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | Applied |
| £500,001 | £15,000 | Lost entirely |
| £550,000 | £17,500 | Lost entirely |
One extra pound costs about £5,000. For a first-time buyer negotiating near this threshold, getting the price to £500,000 or below is worth far more than the £1 suggests — and a seller holding out for £505,000 is asking you to pay £5,000 of tax for £5,000 of house.
Surcharges and How They Stack
On a £500,000 residential purchase in England and Northern Ireland:
| Buyer Situation | Duty | Extra |
|---|---|---|
| First-time buyer | £10,000 | −£5,000 |
| Home mover | £15,000 | — |
| Non-UK resident | £25,000 | +£10,000 |
| Additional property | £40,000 | +£25,000 |
| Additional + non-resident | £50,000 | +£35,000 |
| Company, £600,000 | £102,000 | flat 17% |
Surcharges stack. A non-resident buying an additional property pays £50,000 where a home mover pays £15,000 — more than three times as much on an identical house. Scotland's Additional Dwelling Supplement works differently again, charging 8% of the whole price on top of the band duty, so a £600,000 second home there costs £33,350 plus £48,000, or £81,350 in total.
Commercial Property
Non-residential rates are lower, and buyer type is irrelevant — there is no first-time buyer relief, no additional-property surcharge and no non-resident surcharge:
| Price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| £250,000 | £2,000 | £1,000 | £250 |
| £275,000 | £3,250 | £2,250 | £1,500 |
| £500,000 | £14,500 | £13,500 | £12,750 |
| £1,000,000 | £39,500 | £38,500 | £37,750 |
The £275,000 row is HMRC's own published worked example, which this calculator reproduces exactly: 0% on the first £150,000, 2% on the next £100,000, and 5% on the final £25,000.
Benefits of Using the Stamp Duty Calculator
Example Calculations
Three purchases worked through band by band:
Example Scenario 1 — Residential, £500,000
Home mover, England & Northern Ireland (SDLT).
Up to £125,000: £125,000 × 0% = £0
£125,001 to £250,000: £125,000 × 2% = £2,500
£250,001 to £500,000: £250,000 × 5% = £12,500
Total duty = £15,000
Effective rate = £15,000 ÷ £500,000 × 100 = 3.00%
The same purchase: £23,350 in Scotland, £18,000 in Wales
Example Scenario 2 — First-Time Buyer, £350,000
First-time buyer relief applied, England & Northern Ireland.
Up to £300,000: £300,000 × 0% = £0
£300,001 to £350,000: £50,000 × 5% = £2,500
Total duty = £2,500
A home mover would pay £7,500 on the same property
Relief saves £5,000
Scotland saves £600; Wales has no first-time buyer relief
Example Scenario 3 — Additional Property, £600,000
Second home or buy-to-let, England & Northern Ireland.
Up to £125,000: £125,000 × 5% = £6,250
£125,001 to £250,000: £125,000 × 7% = £8,750
£250,001 to £600,000: £350,000 × 10% = £35,000
Total duty = £50,000, an 8.33% effective rate
A home mover would pay £20,000 — the surcharge costs £30,000
That is exactly 5% of the full £600,000, not just the excess
Rates Change, and Edge Cases Abound
These are the statutory rates in force from 1 April 2025 for SDLT, 5 December 2024 for the Scottish Additional Dwelling Supplement, and 11 December 2024 for the Welsh higher rates. Stamp duty thresholds move at Budgets and have changed repeatedly in recent years, so confirm against HMRC, Revenue Scotland or the Welsh Revenue Authority before committing to a purchase. The calculation here covers the standard case: it does not handle multiple dwellings relief, mixed-use classification where a property has both residential and commercial elements, linked transactions between connected parties, shared ownership and staircasing, leasehold purchases where duty is charged on both premium and rent, or the specific reliefs available to charities, housing associations and genuine property businesses. Replacing a main residence within the permitted window can also mean the additional-property surcharge is refundable after the fact. Duty is payable within 14 days of completion in England and Northern Ireland and 30 days in Scotland and Wales, normally filed by your conveyancer from completion funds — so budget for it as cash needed on the day, not later. This is general information, not tax advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is stamp duty?
- A tax on property purchases. It goes by three names in the UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Northern Ireland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, and Land Transaction Tax in Wales. Each has its own rates and thresholds, administered by a different authority.
- How is stamp duty calculated?
- On a marginal basis — each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside its band, never to the whole price. On a £500,000 home in England you pay 0% on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 and 5% on the remaining £250,000, giving £15,000 or 3.00% overall.
- Why is my effective rate lower than the band rate?
- Because only part of the price is taxed at the top rate. A £500,000 purchase reaches the 5% band, but the effective rate is 3.00% once the 0% and 2% slices are counted. The two only converge at very high prices, and the effective rate can never exceed the highest band applied.
- What relief do first-time buyers get?
- In England and Northern Ireland, nothing up to £300,000 and 5% from £300,001 to £500,000 — worth £5,000 on a £350,000 home. Scotland raises the nil-rate band to £175,000, worth up to £600. Wales has no first-time buyer relief, though its £225,000 nil-rate band is the highest of the three.
- What happens if I pay just over £500,000 as a first-time buyer?
- You lose the relief entirely. At £500,000 the duty is £10,000; at £500,001 it is £15,000. One extra pound costs about £5,000, which makes negotiating to £500,000 or below unusually valuable. It is the only genuine cliff edge in the system.
- How much more do I pay on a second home?
- In England and Northern Ireland, 5 percentage points more in every band — which works out to exactly 5% of the full purchase price. On £600,000 that is £30,000 on top of the £20,000 standard duty. Scotland charges an 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on the whole price, and Wales uses separate higher rate bands.
- Is there a surcharge for overseas buyers?
- In England and Northern Ireland, yes — 2 percentage points on top of all other residential rates, so £10,000 extra on a £500,000 home. It stacks with the additional-property rates. Scotland and Wales have no equivalent, and it does not apply to commercial property.
- What are the rates on commercial property?
- Lower, and buyer type does not matter. In England and Northern Ireland: 0% to £150,000, 2% to £250,000, then 5%. A £275,000 commercial purchase costs £3,250, against £3,750 for a residential one at the same price. Scotland and Wales have their own non-residential bands.
- Do companies pay a different rate?
- In England and Northern Ireland, residential purchases above £500,000 by companies, partnerships with corporate partners and collective investment schemes are charged a flat 17% on the whole price — £102,000 on a £600,000 home. Reliefs exist for genuine rental and development businesses, which pay the additional-property rates instead.
- When is stamp duty due?
- Within 14 days of completion in England and Northern Ireland, and within 30 days in Scotland and Wales. In practice your conveyancer files the return and pays on your behalf from completion funds, so the money needs to be available at completion rather than afterwards.