Stamp duty

Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison has announced changes to Income Tax thresholds, benefits and Stamp Duty in the Scottish Budget. We've rounded up the key changes and what they mean for you.

MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis explains why buying a home could cost you £1,000s more next year, in the latest episode of ITV's The Martin Lewis Money Show Live. These are the Stamp Duty changes that weren't in the Autumn Budget speech.

A tweet suggesting people could save £12,700 a year following the mini-budget has been deleted by HM Treasury after MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) founder Martin Lewis called the Government's calculations "nonsense".

Most homebuyers in Scotland and Wales soon won't pay transaction tax on the first £250,000 of a property's purchase price, under temporary measures announced by the devolved administrations in the wake of the stamp duty cut in England and Northern Ireland last week.

Homebuyers won't pay stamp duty on the first £500,000 of a property's purchase price, in a temporary measure announced by the Chancellor today. 

According to the latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs, 141,100 first-time buyers have bought properties without having to pay stamp duty, and a further 39,400 have paid a discounted rate in the year since first-time buyers relief was introduced.

Income tax cuts will be brought in a year earlier than planned and an extra £1 billion spent to help protect those moving onto universal credit, as part of the 2018 Budget unveiled by the Chancellor Philip Hammond.

First-time buyers will pay zero stamp duty on the first £300,000 of any home that costs up to £500,000 with immediate effect, the Chancellor announced in today's Autumn Budget. This means on a home worth less than £300,000, you'll pay no stamp duty.

If you and your spouse or civil partner both owned property before getting together and are now remortgaging, beware – a new joint remortgage on the home you live in could leave you liable to pay higher-rate stamp duty.

People buying additional property, including buy-to-let or second homes, will face a 3 percentage point surcharge on stamp duty rates from April 2016.