Stamp Duty Changes in Wales

The Welsh Government have announced a new land tax system which will see relief for properties sold for less than £150,000.There will be a significant hike in the taxes paid on house purchases worth between £400,000 and £925,000.It means someone buying a large house in Wales could end up paying up to £17,500 more in tax than they do under the rates that apply in England.People buying smaller houses worth less than £250,000 will benefit by paying up to £500 less in tax.Nine out of ten house buyers will pay the same or less under the new rate.The Welsh Government expects the increases will bring in around an extra £10m in revenue - while the cuts for lower value homes will cost around £7m.The announcement came as the Welsh Government revealed that a land transaction tax will replace stamp duty in Wales from April next year.It is the first Welsh-only tax in almost 800 years and will be introduced on April 1, 2018.There is also a hike on the tax on commercial properties worth more than £1m (up from 5% to 6%), which CBI Wales warned may affect the flow of investment into Wales.The Welsh Government, which revealed the tax as it announced its draft spending plans for the coming year, described it as "progressive move".Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said: "The devolution of tax powers provides us with the opportunity to reshape and make changes to improve existing taxes to better meet Wales’ needs and priorities."I have always been clear that we will use these powers to help improve fairness and support jobs and economic growth in Wales.“These new progressive rates and bands for land transaction taxes and landfill disposals tax will make a real difference to people’s lives; help change behaviours and deliver improvements to communities across Wales."We are being bold but balanced and leading the way in creating a fair and progressive tax system.”The current rates:Up to £125,000 no taxBetween £125k and £250k 2%Between £250k and £925k 5%Between £925k to £1.5m 10%Above £1.5m 12%The new rates in WalesUp to £150,000 no taxBetween £150k and £250k 2.5%Between £250k and £400k 5%Between £400k and £750k 7.5%Between £750k to £1.5m 10%Above £1.5m 12%Who wins and who loses?The biggest winners are people buying small first homesIf you're buying a house in Wales you will in future pay tax on only the value over £150k.On a £150k house, you won't pay anything at all - compared to £500 in EnglandSo on a £200k house, that means you're paying 2.5% of £50k, or £1,250Someone in England buying a house of the same value would pay £1,500Anyone buying a house worth between £250k and £400k will pay the same in England and Wales. That's £2,500 on a £250k home rising to £10,000 on a £400k home.If you're buying a house worth more than £400k in Wales, you will pay a higher rate of tax on the value of property above that levelOn a £500k house, you'd pay £17,500 in Wales - compared to £15,000 in EnglandOn a £600k house, you'd pay £25,000 in Wales - compared to £20,000 in EnglandOn a £750k house, you'd pay £36,250 in Wales - compared to £27,500 in EnglandThe biggest losers are people buying houses worth more than £750,000 as the tax rises to 10%Someone buying a £925,000 house in Wales would pay £53,750In England, the equivalent would be £36,250That's a difference of £17,500The Welsh Government said that nine out of 10 home buyers in Wales would pay the same or less tax than they do currently.Anyone buying a second home will pay an additional 3% on the value of the property - the same as currently.The number of purchases that will see the biggest tax hikes is much smaller than the number of purchases that will see a cut. Transactions of £500,000 are expected to account for 3% of transactions in 2018/19.The new rates are on the Welsh Government's website here:http://gov.wales/funding/fiscal-reform/tax-policy-framework/?lang=enThe current rates are on the UK Government's website here:https://www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax/residential-property-ratesWhat it means for commercial dealsThere are two changes in non-residential property taxes.There is a hike in tax on deals worth more than £1m to 6% (from 5%).And there is a cut in the tax on deals worth between £150k and £250k from 2% to 1%.The bands will be:Up to £150k 0%£150k-£250k 1%£250k - £1m 5%£1m plus 6%The Welsh Government says that this means the vast majority of deals will be unaffected.However, the small number of high-value deals that are affected, around 10%, bring in the most revenues.For example, a £2m transaction would have a tax liability of £89,450 under stamp duty land tax and will pay £98,440 in future in Wales.In total, the Welsh Government expects this to raise £5m extra.Main Source: walesonline.co.uk