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stamp duty

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stamp duty

a tax imposed on written instruments (e.g. conveyances). Stamp duties are either AD VALOREM, where the amount of duty payable varies according to the value of the transaction effected by the instrument, or fixed in amount, whatever the effected value. Where a stamp is essential to the legal validity of an instrument, that instrument cannot be used as evidence in civil proceedings unless the conditions required by the Stamp Act 1891 are met and the penalties set out there paid.
Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006
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A report, co-authored by Tory MP Chris Philp, said the measure would remove stamp duty from 770,000 primary house purchases a year.
Mr Philp said: "It is essential that the new prime minister takes early action to back homeownership and tear down the biggest barrier to hardworking people getting on the duty: New Johnson property ladder by radically cutting stamp duty.
"A combination of strengthening demand and April's stamp duty deadline has resulted in higher sales volumes," said Tom Bill, head of London residential research at Knight Frank.
According to the most recent research from Lloyds Bank, homebuyers spent an estimated GBP7.7bn on Stamp Duty in England and Wales in the year to March 2015 and the average homeowner spends nearly GBP10,000 on Stamp Duty in total as they move up the housing ladder.
The system from December 4 is not charged at a single rate of the whole purchase price, but rather only the proportion of the purchase price that falls within each stamp duty band.
Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "As the property market recovers, more and more people will be sucked into paying punitive rates of stamp duty.
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: "Efforts by first-time buyers to beat the expiry of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March have probably increased sales in recent months and may have helped to support prices."
"Saving for a deposit is now more demanding than it has ever been and so the reintroduction of stamp duty will certainly disadvantage first-time buyers.
However, a modified process has been put in place for non-resident applicants in respect of applications for PPS numbers for capital taxes and stamp duty purposes.
About 83 per cent of people planning to buy a house said they had either postponed their move date or called it off indefinitely following speculation over the future of stamp duty, according to website Moveme.com.
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