Does a company pay the 3% surcharge?

A company buying a residential dwelling pays the higher rates for additional dwellings, and it pays them on the whole price with no nil-rate band. The exact supplement is set by legislation and changes at budgets, which is why the figure here is computed from a dated rate table rather than quoted from memory.

Is stamp duty an allowable cost against profit?

Transfer tax forms part of the acquisition cost rather than a revenue expense, so it reduces the gain on a later disposal rather than the profit in the year of purchase. The treatment differs between a trading company and an investment company, and it is a question for an accountant rather than a calculator.

What if the property is uninhabitable?

Whether a dilapidated building is residential for transfer-tax purposes is a genuinely contested question with case law behind it, and the answer changes the rate. It is not a screening judgement — a property in that condition needs advice before the figure is relied on.

Do the same 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 and its own supplement for additional dwellings. They are separate taxes, not regional variations of one.

Stamp duty and the additional dwelling surcharge

2026-08-01·5 min read

A company buying a residential property in England pays the higher rates for additional dwellings on the whole price, with no nil-rate starting band. On a £212,000 purchase that is £12,340, against £1,740 for an individual buying their only home. Scotland charges a different tax at different rates on the same purchase: £18,300.

Transfer tax is the first cost of a purchase and the one most often carried in somebody's head at the wrong number. It is not one tax, the rate depends on facts about the buyer rather than about the property, and it changes at budgets rather than on a schedule anybody can plan around.

How much stamp duty does a company pay?

On the same £212,000 house, three buyers pay three different figures. The difference between the first and the second is not a rounding item — it is a deposit.

Transfer tax on a £212,000 residential purchase

Company, additional dwelling (England): £12,340
Individual, only property (England): £1,740
Company, additional dwelling (Scotland, LBTT): £18,300

The surcharge starts at the first pound

This is the part that catches people. An individual buying their only home pays nothing on the first slice of the price. A company buying a residential property does not get that band at all — the additional dwelling surcharge applies to the whole consideration from the first pound, and it is charged on top of the ordinary rates rather than instead of them.

The effect is largest at the bottom of the market, which is exactly where refurbishment purchases sit. On a cheap terrace the surcharge can be a double-digit percentage of the price, and an appraisal that applied an individual's rates to a company purchase has understated the first cost of the deal by more than the contingency.

Scotland and Wales are different taxes, not different rates

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland and Land Transaction Tax in Wales are separate taxes with their own bands, their own supplements and their own legislation. Treating them as Stamp Duty Land Tax with the numbers changed produces the right shape and the wrong answer, and it produces it silently.

That is why the tax rules on this platform live in per-jurisdiction packs with a dated set of rates and a test pinning each one, and why a jurisdiction with no pack returns not-supported rather than defaulting to England. A default that guesses England is a guess that will be wrong in three of the four UK nations.

Does the tax change the deal, or just the deposit?

Both, and the second is what surprises people. Transfer tax is not lendable — no bridging facility advances against it — so it comes out of the sponsor's own cash on the day. A deal that works on paper at 75% loan to value can still fail to complete because the tax, the legals and the survey together exceed the cash available.

It also changes the answer at the other end. Profit is taxed as well as the purchase, and a deal scored before tax overstates every outcome — most on the marginal deals, which is where the decision is being made. That is why the Deal Score on this platform is computed after profit tax and never before it.

What it means for an appraisal

State the buyer, not just the property. Company or individual, first property or additional, resident or not — each one moves the figure.
Charge the tax into the deployed total before computing true discount. A tax held to one side is a tax that will be paid and never counted.
Never carry a rate in your head across a budget. Rates move; a pinned, dated rate table is one edit and a memory is a silent error.
Take advice on anything unusual. Multiple dwellings, mixed use, linked transactions and partnership acquisitions all have their own treatment, and none of them is a screening question.

The figures on this page are screening estimates produced by an engine against dated rate tables. They are the right order of magnitude for a decision about whether to keep looking at a property. They are not a computation of your liability, and every real transaction needs a professional to confirm it.

Common questions

Does a company pay the 3% surcharge?: A company buying a residential dwelling pays the higher rates for additional dwellings, and it pays them on the whole price with no nil-rate band. The exact supplement is set by legislation and changes at budgets, which is why the figure here is computed from a dated rate table rather than quoted from memory.
Is stamp duty an allowable cost against profit?: Transfer tax forms part of the acquisition cost rather than a revenue expense, so it reduces the gain on a later disposal rather than the profit in the year of purchase. The treatment differs between a trading company and an investment company, and it is a question for an accountant rather than a calculator.
What if the property is uninhabitable?: Whether a dilapidated building is residential for transfer-tax purposes is a genuinely contested question with case law behind it, and the answer changes the rate. It is not a screening judgement — a property in that condition needs advice before the figure is relied on.
Do the same 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 and its own supplement for additional dwellings. They are separate taxes, not regional variations of one.

Sources

Stamp Duty Land Tax rates
The bands and rates in force, and the reliefs that alter them. Published by HM Revenue & Customs; the link goes to their site rather than to the document, because a deep link into guidance is a slug that changes without notice.
Higher rates for additional dwellings
The surcharge on a second residential property, and that a company pays it from the first pound. Published by HM Revenue & Customs; the link goes to their site rather than to the document, because a deep link into guidance is a slug that changes without notice.
Corporation Tax rates and reliefs
The main rate, the small profits rate and marginal relief between them. Published by HM Revenue & Customs; the link goes to their site rather than to the document, because a deep link into guidance is a slug that changes without notice.
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013
Scotland's own transfer tax, with its own bands and its own supplement for additional dwellings. Published by legislation.gov.uk.
Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017
Wales's own transfer tax, on the same principle and with different figures. Published by legislation.gov.uk.

Terms used on this page

true discount: Total money deployed measured against open market value, rather than the headline discount on the purchase price.
Deal Score: A 0-100 score computed from nine weighted components, always on profit after tax, never before it.
bridging finance: Short-term secured lending used to buy and refurbish property that a mortgage will not lend against.
additional dwelling surcharge: Extra transfer tax charged when the buyer already owns another property, or is buying through a company.