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