Stamp duty receipts on track to reach a record high – despite falling property sales

Main image: This chart shows monthly net receipts from stamp taxes. Receipts for April to November are 12.2% higher than last year with the largest increase in April receipts. The large year-on-year increase in both March and April 2016 could be partially explained by forestalling activity ahead of the introduction of the higher rate of SDLT on additional residential properties. Payments for many of the transactions completed at the end of March were not received until early April. April 2016 represents the largest single month of SDLT receipts since the tax's introduction in 2003, and the unwinding of this forestalling is likely to have led to receipts dropping back in the following months. Receipts in October were higher due to an increase in Shares.