Stamp duty on share sales

Earlier this week, commentators in the national press, seemingly in the know, were predicting that the draft legislation to be published to implement announcements in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement would signal the introduction of an increase in stamp duty on the sale of shares in property-rich companies. (See Daily Telegraph). At present, selling the company that owns a property, instead of selling the property itself, gives rise to a significant stamp duty saving, in that stamp duty on share sales is set at 0.5% of the purchase price, whereas the top rate of SDLT is 5% (or 4% in the non-residential market). However, as the Law Society's Gazette explains, the predictions were wide of the mark. See "Stamp duty land tax and the chancellor's autumn statement" written by Anthony Hennessy of Brecher Solicitors.