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Where Taxpayers and Advisers Meet

Too late for reclaim for additional dwelling?

nicktwick
Posts:1
Joined:Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:03 pm
Too late for reclaim for additional dwelling?

Postby nicktwick » Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:16 pm

I think I may have made a huge error.

I bought a new residence in June 2017. I then sold what had been my main residence in August 2018.

I felt sure I had 12 months from selling my previous main residence to reclaim the higher rate of stamp duty that I had paid on my new residence. I even checked this before Christmas to make sure, and remember having checked it felt assured I had 12 months from selling the main residence.

I've just re-looked at the gov.uk web site and am now under a different impression, i.e. that I had 12 months from buying my new residence (ie until June 2018) or only three months from selling my old one (i.e. November 2018).

Yes I should have done it straight away, but life in the interim has been... complicated.

I note the wording on the gov.uk web site - 'within 12 months of the filing date of the return relating to the new residence, whichever is later'. I assume the 'return' is the document my solicitors would have lodged at the time of the purchase, not my income tax return for 2017/2018? I am hopeful but sceptical that the latter would apply.

Have the rules changed recently?

Hoping someone can give me some hope that a reclaim may still be possible.

SDLT Geek
Posts:232
Joined:Sun Apr 30, 2017 5:45 pm

Re: Too late for reclaim for additional dwelling?

Postby SDLT Geek » Sun Mar 17, 2019 7:39 pm

This is a horrible trap you have fallen into. After some campaigning, the rules were changed to give more time to lodge a reclaim. That was done with effect from the 29 Oct 2018 Budget, but not with full retrospective effect. Your sale completed before the Budget, so the changes do not help you.

The “filing date” for the return relating to the purchase is 30 days from completion of the purchase so that does not help you either.

One angle is to check whether the 3% extra was properly due in the first place. On the recent transaction you “bridged”: buying your new home before selling your new one. Had you bridged before? Was there another property which you lived in but which you sold only after buying your last home (the one sold in Aug 2018)? Because your purchase was before other rules changed on 26 Nov 2018, that could save the day. There is an explanation here: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/discover/buying/12-month-countdown-to-escape-second-home-stamp-duty/.

Another possibility is to put the refund application in and throw yourself on HMRC’s mercy. They have a limited discretion to make refunds out of time, but only exercise it sparingly.

SDLT Geek
Posts:232
Joined:Sun Apr 30, 2017 5:45 pm

Perhaps not too late for reclaim for additional dwelling? Overpayment relief

Postby SDLT Geek » Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:36 pm

There is a posting here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5905040 dealing with the same problem of missing what used to be the short time limit to put in the application where it has been reported that someone has recovered the extra 3% paid using overpayment relief referred to in HMRC's manual here: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm54000


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