How Advisors Such As David Hannah At Cornerstone Can Make Stamp Duty Simple

Many of us do not like paying taxes, and we sometimes feel like we are one of the most taxed nations worldwide in the UK. However, we are not in the top ten, so you need to count your blessings for that, and there are various taxes you need to pay through the course of your life. You need to pay tax on the money you earn and the goods you buy, and you also need to pay tax when buying and selling property, which is called stamp duty. As most of us do not buy and sell homes regularly, it is a tax we do not know a lot about, and we can often make mistakes that can cost us. Below are some tips on stamp duty, what it is, how to know if you have paid too much, and what you can do to remedy it.

Stamp Duty: What Is It & Who Pays It?

Everyone who buys a house, land, or commercial property over a specified value, must pay Stamp Duty to HMRC. People buying a home over £125,000 in value will have to pay, but there is an exception for first-time buyers. When you have never owned a property before, you can purchase on with a value of up to £500,000 without paying Stamp Duty on it. For the purchase of commercial properties, if they have a value exceeding £150,000, you will also need to pay Stamp Duty on it. The total amount payable will depend on the price paid for the property or land, and many people make the mistake of overpaying, which is when you want to speak to people such as David Hannah and Cornerstone, where he is a director.

Claiming Back Your Stamp Duty

You usually do not have to worry about underpaying your Stamp Duty, as HMRC will often tell you when you have not paid enough and ask you to pay what is owed. However, if you overpay your Stamp Duty, it is down to you to realise this and claim for the overpayment. The simplest way to claim back your Stamp Duty is speaking to a reputable company such as Cornerstone, where David Hannah and his team can make your claim easy. They can take care of all the paperwork, ensure you are claiming the correct amount, and get the money back to you quickly. However, you can also do this yourself if you have time available, and the process is listed below.

Claiming Back Stamp Duty Yourself

You will need to go to the HMRC website and use their online calculator to determine how much you should have paid or what your refund is if selling a second property. You will also need to download a form and fill this out with all the information they ask for, and there are two ways you can submit this. You can scan everything digitally and send this along with your application to the stated email address, or you can print everything off and send it to them using the regular mail service. Once it has been received and everything is in order, you will usually receive your refund within a few weeks, unless there are complications, which is when using an expert can benefit you.