Calculate SDLT, LBTT, or LTT for your property purchase
Enter the full purchase price of the property
First-time buyer relief is available in England & NI (up to £500,000) and Scotland (nil-rate band increases to £175,000)
A surcharge applies if you already own another property
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax you pay when you buy a residential property or a piece of land over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland. The tax is calculated based on the purchase price of the property and is paid on a tiered basis — meaning different portions of the price are taxed at different rates, similar to income tax bands.
In Scotland, the equivalent tax is called Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), and in Wales, it is called Land Transaction Tax (LTT). While the principle is the same, the rates and thresholds differ between the three systems.
From April 2025, the standard SDLT rates for residential properties in England and Northern Ireland are:
If you are purchasing an additional property (such as a buy-to-let or second home), a 5% surcharge is applied to the entire purchase price on top of the standard rates.
First-time buyers purchasing a property costing up to £500,000 benefit from a reduced rate structure: no stamp duty on the first £300,000, and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000. If the property price exceeds £500,000, normal rates apply and the relief is not available.
Scotland's Land and Buildings Transaction Tax has its own rate structure, administered by Revenue Scotland. The current rates are: 0% up to £145,000, 2% from £145,001 to £250,000, 5% from £250,001 to £325,000, 10% from £325,001 to £750,000, and 12% above £750,000. An Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) of 8% applies to additional properties (increased from 6% in December 2024).
Wales has its own Land Transaction Tax administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority. The standard rates are: 0% up to £225,000, 6% from £225,001 to £400,000, 7.5% from £400,001 to £750,000, 10% from £750,001 to £1,500,000, and 12% above £1,500,000. For additional properties, Wales uses entirely separate higher rate bands: 5% up to £180,000, 8.5% from £180,001 to £250,000, 10% from £250,001 to £400,000, 12.5% from £400,001 to £750,000, 15% from £750,001 to £1,500,000, and 17% above £1,500,000.
You must pay stamp duty within 14 days of the completion date of your property purchase. In practice, your solicitor or conveyancer will usually handle the payment on your behalf as part of the conveyancing process. They will submit the return and payment to HMRC (or Revenue Scotland / Welsh Revenue Authority for Scotland and Wales respectively).
It's important to budget for stamp duty as part of your overall property purchase costs, alongside solicitor fees, survey costs, and mortgage arrangement fees. Use our calculator above to get an accurate estimate of what you'll need to pay.
Stamp duty works on a progressive, tiered system. This means you don't pay the highest rate on the entire purchase price — only on the portion that falls within each band. For example, if you buy a property in England for £350,000, you would pay: 0% on the first £125,000 (£0), 2% on the next £125,000 (£2,500), and 5% on the remaining £100,000 (£5,000), for a total of £7,500.
This tiered approach means the effective tax rate (total tax divided by purchase price) is always lower than the highest marginal rate. Our calculator above shows you both the total stamp duty and the effective rate for your property purchase.
There are several legitimate ways to reduce your stamp duty bill:
Understanding your stamp duty obligations is an important part of planning any property purchase. Use our free mortgage calculator alongside this tool to get a complete picture of your buying costs, or check your take-home pay to see how much you can afford.
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