Stamp Duty Land Tax: Charities Relief

Detailed rules to qualify for the relief

Relief from Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is available to charities on the purchase of a chargeable interest that they intend to hold for qualifying charitable purposes. The purchasing charity must intend to hold the chargeable interest for qualifying charitable purposes. This means

• for use in the furtherance of the charitable purposes of the purchaser or another charity

• as an investment, the profits of which are applied to the charitable purposes of the purchaser

Following the definition in FA10/SCH6, to qualify for relief a charity must:

• be established for charitable purposes only

• be subject to the courts in

• the UK or

• another member EU member State or

• Iceland or

• Norway

• be registered if required to do so by the laws of the territory in which it is situated

• be administered or controlled by “fit and proper ” person

Relief where dwelling is provided for Religious minister

Whilst not everything to do with religion is charitable the advancement of religion is considered a charitable purpose.

Therefore, where a church provides a dwelling for a vicar, priest etc. for occupation in the course of his or her duties, this would be considered as land being provided for charitable purposes

Transfer of property between companies

Companies can claim relief within the same group that buy or sell property to or from each other. The buyer of the property can claim the relief if:

• the buyer and seller are both companies

• at the effective date of the transaction both companies are members of the same group