Current taxes paid to buy residential buildings (e.g. houses, flats, buildings, etc.) or land in England and Northern Ireland to HMRC are stamp duties. The tax is different if a purchase is made in Scotland or Wales. Last year's Budget 2020 announced that this stamp duty surcharge for both freehold and leasehold properties will apply to non-UK resident buyers and come into effect from 1 April 2021. It will apply to non-UK companies and those who are not resident in the UK and incur 2 percentage points being made higher on top of all other SDLT residential rates, unless a residential purchase is less than £40,000. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) resident tests will also need to be applied to establish whether buyers are non-UK residents.
