Stamp Duty: Revenue admits errors in controversial tax

Solicitors celebrated this week as Revenue & Customs announced changes to its notorious stamp duty land tax (SDLT) scanning process, and admitted 15% of rejections were due to its machines.


The Law Society campaign to improve the scanning process and guidance given by the Revenue began in May and gained the support of more than 4,500 solicitors.


In a letter to the Law Society, Jim Ferguson, stamp duty business director, said the Revenue had modified the scanning parameters and procedures, and expected the changes to cut the number of errors made by 60%. But the Revenue insisted that 80% of the rejections were due to solicitors failing to complete the forms either correctly or legibly.


Law Society President Kevin Martin said: 'This is great news for solicitors and all the clients who have experienced problems with SDLT. The Law Society campaign demonstrated the level of frustration these practical problems were causing.


'I am pleased the Revenue has shown a willingness to work with us. If the changes they have announced deliver real improvements to solicitors and their clients, we will have solid foundations to build on for our future relationship.'


The Revenue also agreed to end the practice of sending rejected returns to both the solicitor and the client, a decision that Paul Marsh, chairman of the Law Society's conveyancing and land law committee, said was 'very, very welcome' as it 'has been causing a huge amount of unnecessary anxiety to clients'.


The Revenue also announced it will refund £3 million to taxpayers after charging interest on late payments of SDLT without having the statutory powers to do so.


A Revenue spokeswoman said: 'We apologise for the errors, which are administrative, and not IT-related. We will repay money overpaid, with interest. We have reviewed our procedures to make sure errors do not happen again.'