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Stamp Duty Calculator

Calculate Stamp Duty Land Tax on a residential purchase in England or Northern Ireland, including first-time buyer relief and the 5% additional property surcharge.

How to use this calculator

  1. 1Enter the agreed purchase price.
  2. 2Choose your buyer type — first-time buyer relief and the additional-property surcharge change the answer substantially.
  3. 3Check the band table to see which portions of the price attracted which rate.
  4. 4Remember the duty is payable within 14 days of completion and cannot normally be added to the mortgage.

How the calculation works

Duty = Σ (portion of price within each band × that band's rate). Additional properties add 5 percentage points to every band
banded
Each rate applies only to the slice of price inside its band, not to the whole price
first-time buyer relief
A raised nil-rate band of £300,000, available only where the price is £500,000 or less

SDLT has been a banded tax since December 2014. Before that it was a slab tax where crossing a threshold re-priced the entire purchase, which produced dead zones just above each threshold. Those distortions no longer exist for standard purchases.

First-time buyer relief is the one genuine cliff left in the residential schedule: it is available at £500,000 and disappears entirely at £500,001, with no taper.

The additional-property surcharge applies to every band including the nil-rate band, so a second property attracts duty from the first pound.

Worked example

A £400,000 purchase when moving home

  1. 1.The first £125,000 is charged at 0% — nothing.
  2. 2.The next £125,000, from £125,000 to £250,000, is charged at 2% = £2,500.
  3. 3.The remaining £150,000, from £250,000 to £400,000, is charged at 5% = £7,500.
  4. 4.Total: £10,000, an effective rate of 2.5% across the whole price.

Result: £10,000 — 2.5% effective

The same purchase as a first-time buyer

  1. 1.Relief raises the nil-rate band from £125,000 to £300,000, so the first £300,000 is free.
  2. 2.The remaining £100,000, from £300,000 to £400,000, is charged at 5% = £5,000.
  3. 3.That is £5,000 against £10,000 for a standard mover — relief saves £5,000.

Result: £5,000 — half the standard bill

A £400,000 second property

  1. 1.The 5% surcharge applies to every band, including the nil-rate band.
  2. 2.So the first £125,000 is charged at 5%, the next £125,000 at 7%, and the remaining £150,000 at 10%.
  3. 3.That gives £6,250 + £8,750 + £15,000 = £30,000.
  4. 4.Three times what a standard mover pays on the same property.

Result: £30,000 — the surcharge triples the bill

How SDLT is actually charged

Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to residential purchases in England and Northern Ireland, and it is banded rather than slab-based. Each rate applies only to the portion of the price falling inside its band, exactly like income tax.

This matters because the old system, replaced in December 2014, was a slab tax: crossing a threshold applied the higher rate to the entire price, which created dead zones where a property was literally unsellable at certain prices. Under the current banded system, paying a pound more never costs more than a pound of extra duty on a standard purchase.

The tax is due within 14 days of completion, and it generally cannot be added to the mortgage — so it has to be funded from the same cash as the deposit, which is what makes it such a significant barrier for buyers.

The two regimes that change the answer

Beyond the standard schedule, two adjustments dominate real purchases.

  • First-time buyer relief — raises the nil-rate band from £125,000 to £300,000, but only where the price is £500,000 or less. Above that, relief vanishes entirely with no taper — the one true cliff left in the residential schedule. Everyone buying must be a first-time buyer for the relief to apply, so one partner having owned before disqualifies the whole purchase.
  • The additional property surcharge — adds 5 percentage points to every band, including the nil-rate band, for anyone buying a second home or a buy-to-let. It rose from 3% to 5% on 31 October 2024, roughly tripling the duty on a typical purchase. It also catches people who have not sold their previous home yet — though that portion is reclaimable if the old home sells within 36 months.

Where these rates do not apply

Stamp duty is devolved, and using the wrong country's schedule produces a confidently wrong number rather than an approximate one.

Scotland replaced SDLT with Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in 2015, with different bands and its own Additional Dwelling Supplement. Wales replaced it with Land Transaction Tax in 2018, again with different thresholds and no first-time buyer relief at all — Wales instead sets a higher general nil-rate band. This calculator covers England and Northern Ireland only, and says so rather than quietly applying English bands to a Cardiff or Edinburgh purchase.

There is also a 2% surcharge for non-UK residents that stacks on top of everything else, and an entirely separate schedule for non-residential and mixed-use property. Neither is modelled here.

What this assumes, and where it stops

Assumptions

  • The property is residential and in England or Northern Ireland.
  • The buyer is UK resident — a further 2% applies to non-residents.
  • For first-time buyer relief, every purchaser qualifies as a first-time buyer.
  • A single dwelling is purchased, with no multiple dwellings or other relief claimed.

Limitations

  • Scotland (LBTT) and Wales (LTT) have their own taxes with different bands, and are not covered.
  • The 2% non-resident surcharge is excluded and stacks on top of the rates shown.
  • Non-residential, mixed-use and six-or-more-dwelling purchases follow a separate schedule.
  • Reliefs claimed on the return — multiple dwellings, group relief, and the refund route when a previous home sells within 36 months — are not modelled.

Common questions

How much stamp duty will I pay?

On a standard purchase in England or Northern Ireland you pay nothing on the first £125,000, 2% from £125,000 to £250,000, 5% from £250,000 to £925,000, 10% to £1.5 million and 12% above that. Only the portion inside each band is charged at that rate, so a £400,000 purchase costs £10,000 rather than 5% of the whole price. First-time buyers and additional-property buyers follow different schedules.

What stamp duty relief do first-time buyers get?

The nil-rate band rises from £125,000 to £300,000, and the portion between £300,000 and £500,000 is charged at 5%. The relief disappears completely above £500,000 — there is no taper, so a purchase at £500,001 is taxed at full standard rates. Every buyer on the purchase must be a first-time buyer, so if one partner has owned property before, the relief is unavailable to both.

How much extra is stamp duty on a second home?

A 5 percentage point surcharge applies to every band, including the nil-rate band, so duty starts from the first pound. On a £400,000 purchase that means £30,000 rather than £10,000 — three times the standard bill. The surcharge rose from 3% to 5% on 31 October 2024. It also applies if you have not yet sold your previous home, though that extra can be reclaimed if the old property sells within 36 months.

Do these rates apply in Scotland and Wales?

No. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax, each with its own bands, thresholds and surcharge rules. Wales has no first-time buyer relief at all, using a higher general nil-rate band instead. This calculator covers England and Northern Ireland only — applying these bands to a Scottish or Welsh purchase would give a wrong figure, not an approximate one.

Sources

Formula and content last reviewed on .

Results are estimates for information only, not professional advice.

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