Second home & buy-to-let stamp duty calculator
The 5% surcharge changes the arithmetic of every additional purchase — and most stamp duty calculators are built for homemovers, not investors. This one is built for the investor case: additional dwellings, limited companies, the non-resident surcharge, and which of the reliefs actually apply.
The purchase
Pre-filled with a worked example — type over it. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
England & Northern Ireland only — Scotland (LBTT) and Wales (LTT) use different bands. Rates verified against gov.uk on 13 Aug 2026.
Indicative stamp duty
Arithmetic on the published bands, verified against gov.uk on 13 Aug 2026— not tax advice, and no substitute for HMRC's own calculator on your actual completion.
Effective rate 6.67%
The surcharges account for £15,000 of that — a UK-resident main-residence buyer would pay £5,000 on the same price.
Band by band
| Price band | Rate charged | Amount in band | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 5% | £125,000 | £6,250 |
| £125,001 – £250,000 | 7% | £125,000 | £8,750 |
| £250,001 – £300,000 | 10% | £50,000 | £5,000 |
Rates shown include the surcharges that apply to your selection.
Reliefs and refunds worth knowing
- Replacing your main residence: standard rates apply even if you own a portfolio. Complete before your old home sells and you pay the surcharge up front — reclaimable if the old main residence sells within 36 months.
- The £40,000 floor: purchases under £40,000 escape the higher rates entirely.
- The limited-company myth: a company does not avoid the surcharge — it pays it from purchase one. The real company-structure questions are about income tax and stress-testing, not SDLT.
- Six or more dwellings in one transaction can be treated as non-residential — a genuine portfolio-purchase edge, and firmly take-advice territory.
What it doesn't do
- It isn't HMRC. Completion-day edge cases — linked transactions, mixed-use property, annexes, shared ownership — change the answer, and HMRC's own calculator plus your conveyancer are the authority on your actual purchase.
- It covers England & Northern Ireland only — LBTT (Scotland) and LTT (Wales) have their own bands and supplements.
- It is arithmetic, not tax advice. Rates are as verified on the date shown in the tool and can change at any fiscal event.
Working out the whole purchase? The buy-to-let mortgage calculator shows what the rent supports across every standard lender rule-set, and the rental yield calculator tells you whether the deal is worth doing at all — or read whether a limited company makes sense.
Common questions
- How much is stamp duty on a second home?
- In England and Northern Ireland you usually pay the standard SDLT bands plus a 5% surcharge on the whole price. On a £300,000 second home that's £20,000 — £5,000 at the standard rates plus £15,000 of surcharge (rates as verified against gov.uk in Aug 2026). The calculator shows the band-by-band breakdown for your own price.
- Do limited companies pay the stamp duty surcharge?
- Yes — and from their very first property. A company buying residential property pays the higher rates whether or not it owns anything else, because the surcharge applies to company purchases as such. On top of that, company purchases over £500,000 can fall into a special corporate flat rate unless a relief applies (property rental businesses commonly qualify for relief) — that edge is exactly the case to take professional advice on.
- Does buying through a limited company avoid the stamp duty surcharge?
- No — this is one of the most persistent myths in buy-to-let. A company pays the higher rates from purchase one, so incorporating does not avoid the surcharge on the way in. The genuine reasons investors use companies are about income tax on the rent (Section 24) and mortgage stress-testing, not stamp duty. Transferring a property you already own INTO a company is itself a purchase and can trigger the surcharge again — whether a company structure suits you at all is a question for regulated tax advice.
- When does the surcharge not apply?
- Two big cases. Purchases under £40,000 escape the higher rates entirely. And if you're replacing your main residence — selling your old home and buying a new one to live in — you pay the standard rates even if you own other properties; if you complete the purchase before selling the old home, you pay the surcharge up front but can reclaim it if the old main residence sells within 36 months.
- Is stamp duty different in Scotland and Wales?
- Yes — Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax (LTT), each with its own bands and its own additional-dwelling supplement. This calculator covers England and Northern Ireland only; use Revenue Scotland's or the Welsh Revenue Authority's calculators for those.
Stamp duty is one line of the deal. Track the whole portfolio.
Inside Primehold every property carries its purchase costs, value, loan, rate and rent — with the full dated history and a lender-ready export one click away. Built by Scott West, a practising specialist mortgage broker.