High-End Homebuyers Find Stamp Duty Tax Loopholes, FT Says

Buyers of U.K. homes with a value exceeding two million pounds ($2.91 million) have found loopholes to avoid paying top-rate stamp duty less than a month after the government introduced a higher levy, the Financial Times reported.

One of the plans marketed by some law firms involves buyers signing multi-year leases that are automatically renewed on a rolling basis, the report said. The approach circumvents the top tax as the value of each lease is much less than the freehold of the house.

Such plans are offered after the government last month raised a stamp-duty tax rate on such properties to 7 percent from 5 percent in an effort to raise an extra 150 million pounds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dick Schumacher at dschumacher@bloomberg.net