HMRC to crack down on stamp duty land tax avoidance

HMRC is to extend the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on residential property with a value of at least £1 million.

The new regulations, which are due to come into effect on 1 April 2010, aim to crack down on accountants, law firms, banks and other financial institutions who currently promote tax avoidance schemes to their clients.  Existing regulations currently only require the disclosure of certain commercial, rather than residential property to HMRC.

Schemes that relate to non-commercial property with an aggregate value of £5 million will also be made disclosable.

The revised HMRC guidelines