There were only a small number of changes to stamp taxes introduced by the Finance Act but they are quite a mixed bunch. They range from a fundamental change to the SDLT return filing deadline through a welcome relief for first-time buyers who are acquiring shared ownership dwellings to a strange stamp duty and SDRT anti-avoidance rule for transfers of listed shares to connected companies.
Perhaps the most important change from a practical perspective was the acceleration of the deadline for submitting SDLT returns and paying SDLT to only 14 days for transactions with an effective date on or after 1 March 2019. Although this has been known for some time it will inevitably cause some practical problems for conveyancers who are dealing with SDLT compliance particularly in more complex cases. It should be noted that where consideration for a...
