Stamp duty land tax receipts reach record high in July

Stamp duty land tax receipts reached £1.497bn in July 2022 according to HMRC statistics. This is higher than in any other summer month since records began and the only month that receipts have been higher was December 2021 (£1.737bn).

Chris Etherington partner at RSM UK said: ‘These record levels of property tax receipts highlight how stamp duty land tax is quickly becoming the biggest tax on wealth by stealth. 

‘Other than the special measures introduced in the pandemic the thresholds at which SDLT becomes payable have been frozen since 4 December 2014. In the last year alone the average house price has increased by nearly 12% so more people are getting sucked into the SDLT net than ever. 

‘We are reaching a point where taxpayers may start to question why they are having to pay so much tax just to move house....