The Law Society has protested to the Treasury about the 'chaos' surrounding stamp duty land tax.

In a letter to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, Law Society President Edward Nally cited five areas of concern: the lack of clarity in the legislative provisions; unwarranted requisitions due in part to the inability of the newly introduced scanning system to accurately read the forms; unfair financial penalties; the lack of a helpful accessible helpline; and the practice of sending requisitions to both the buyer and their solicitor.


The tax was introduced in December 2003 and provides the Treasury with £7 billion in revenue.


Calling for a review, Mr Nally said: 'The result of the too ambitious timetable has been a piecemeal introduction and implementation which is not serving the needs of the Inland Revenue, solicitors or, most importantly, taxpayers.'


An Inland Revenue spokesman said: 'The vast majority of rejections are caused by errors and omissions on the part of the conveyancers or their staff. When scanning errors are detected, they are corrected.'