How this works
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is the transaction tax buyers pay when purchasing residential property in England and Northern Ireland. It runs on progressive bands — you pay 0 % on the price up to the nil-rate threshold, then a higher rate on the next band, and so on. The brackets reverted to their pre-pandemic levels on 1 April 2025 after the temporary higher thresholds expired: 0 % to £125,000, 2 % to £250,000, 5 % to £925,000, 10 % to £1.5 million, then 12 % above. The widget walks these bands and shows the per-band split so you can see exactly where the tax accumulates.
There are two important modifiers. **First-time buyer relief** raises the 0 % threshold to £300,000 and adds a 5 % band from £300k to £500k, but only if the property costs £500,000 or less — buy a £510k flat as a first-time buyer and you lose the relief entirely and pay full standard rates. **The additional-dwelling surcharge** is a flat extra 5 % across every band (including the previously-0 % band) when the property is a second home, a buy-to-let, or any purchase that takes you to two-or-more residential properties. It was raised from 3 % to 5 % in the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024.
Scotland uses a separate transaction tax called LBTT (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax) with its own bands and an Additional Dwelling Supplement; Wales uses LTT (Land Transaction Tax). Both are devolved and aren't modelled here.
The formula
Bands are the post-1-April-2025 rates published by HMRC. Surcharge stacks on every band, so the £0 – £125k band becomes 5 % (not 0 %) for an additional dwelling — i.e. you pay £6,250 on the first £125k where a standard buyer pays nothing. The first-time-buyer cap of £500k is a cliff, not a taper: buy at £499,999 and you save up to £6,250 vs. standard; buy at £500,001 and you pay the full standard SDLT. Excludes the surcharge for non-UK residents (extra 2 %), bulk-purchase rules, and the 15 % flat rate that applies to companies buying residential property above £500k.
Example calculation
- Standard buyer, £350,000 home.
- Bands: £125k × 0 % = £0 · £125k × 2 % = £2,500 · £100k × 5 % = £5,000.
- Total SDLT = £7,500 (2.14 % effective). First-time buyer at the same price would pay £2,500 (£300k at 0 % + £50k at 5 %).
Frequently asked questions
When does first-time buyer relief disappear?
The moment the price crosses £500,000. It's a cliff edge, not a taper. At £499,999 a first-time buyer pays SDLT of (300,000 × 0 %) + (199,999 × 5 %) = £9,999.95. At £500,001 the relief is gone entirely and they pay full standard rates: (125k × 0 %) + (125k × 2 %) + (250,001 × 5 %) = £15,000.05. The £2 price increase costs you over £5,000 in extra tax. Worth negotiating below the threshold if you're close — or asking the seller to take £500 off and call it a fixtures-and-fittings adjustment.
I'm buying a flat to live in while keeping my rental — do I pay the surcharge?
Yes. The surcharge applies when, at the end of the day of completion, you own two or more residential properties. It doesn't matter that the new flat is your main residence — what matters is the total count. The one common escape route is the "replacing main residence" rule: if you sell your previous main home within 3 years of the new purchase, you can reclaim the surcharge. The rental still counts towards your dwelling count after the sale, but it's no longer triggering the surcharge on the new home.
Does this cover Scotland and Wales?
No. Scotland uses Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), administered by Revenue Scotland, with bands 0 % / 2 % / 5 % / 10 % / 12 % at £145k / £250k / £325k / £750k thresholds and a 6 % Additional Dwelling Supplement (up from 4 % in late 2024). Wales uses Land Transaction Tax (LTT), administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority, with bands 0 % / 6 % / 7.5 % / 10 % / 12 % at £225k / £400k / £750k / £1.5M thresholds and no first-time buyer relief at all (the threshold is higher to compensate). Both are separate calculators we plan to add but haven't shipped yet.