Every example at a glance
6 scenarios, all worked the same way. Tap a row to jump to the full breakdown.
| Price and buyer | Stamp duty | Effective rate | Total with duty |
|---|---|---|---|
| £250,000, moving home buyer | £2,500 | 1.00% | £252,500 |
| £300,000, moving home buyer | £5,000 | 1.67% | £305,000 |
| £300,000, additional buyer | £20,000 | 6.67% | £320,000 |
| £400,000, moving home buyer | £10,000 | 2.50% | £410,000 |
| £450,000, first-time buyer | £7,500 | 1.67% | £457,500 |
| £750,000, moving home buyer | £27,500 | 3.67% | £777,500 |
How it is worked out
Stamp duty is charged in slices, like income tax — you do not pay one rate on the whole price. Each band's rate applies only to the part of the price falling inside it, so crossing a threshold never costs more than the amount by which you crossed it.
- Moving home — 0% to £125,000, 2% from £125,001 to £250,000, 5% from £250,001 to £925,000, 10% to £1.5m, 12% above
- First-time buyer — 0% to £300,000 then 5% from £300,001 to £500,000. Relief is withdrawn entirely above £500,000, where the standard rates apply to the whole price
- Additional property — the standard rates plus a 5% surcharge on every slice, including the first, on any purchase of £40,000 or more
The effective rate column is the bill divided by the price. It is always lower than the top band reached, and it is the fairer number to compare purchases with.
Each example in full
Every card below opens in the Stamp Duty Calculator with its own numbers already filled in, so you can change one figure and see what moves.
£250,000, moving home buyer
£250,000 is the top of the 2% band, so it is the largest price at which the duty stays comparatively small — one pound more starts charging at 5%.
Open this one in the Stamp Duty Calculator →£300,000, moving home buyer
£300,000 is exactly where first-time buyer relief runs out, which makes it the cleanest price for seeing what that relief is worth against a standard purchase.
Open this one in the Stamp Duty Calculator →£300,000, additional buyer
A £300,000 second home or buy-to-let carries the 5% surcharge on every band including the nil-rate one, which multiplies the bill several times over against the same purchase as a main residence.
Open this one in the Stamp Duty Calculator →£400,000, moving home buyer
£400,000 is around the average price of a house sold in England, so this is the stamp duty bill most movers are actually budgeting for.
Open this one in the Stamp Duty Calculator →£450,000, first-time buyer
£450,000 is the last common first-time buyer price still inside the relief, and it is close enough to the £500,000 cliff edge to show what crossing it would cost.
Open this one in the Stamp Duty Calculator →£750,000, moving home buyer
At £750,000 most of the price is taxed at 5%, and the duty has grown into a sum worth financing deliberately rather than finding on completion day.
Open this one in the Stamp Duty Calculator →What these figures do not include
- Scotland and Wales, which levy LBTT and LTT instead. Both use different thresholds and rates.
- Leasehold purchases, where duty may also be due on the rent element of the lease.
- Linked transactions, multiple-dwellings cases, and purchases by companies or non-residents, all of which follow separate rules.
- Reliefs and exemptions for particular circumstances, including some transfers on divorce or inheritance.
- The deadline and the filing itself. Duty is normally payable within 14 days of completion and your conveyancer usually handles it.
Frequently asked questions
Why do two £300,000 purchases show different bills?+
Because the buyer type differs. Moving home, £300,000 attracts £5,000 — nothing on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 and 5% on the final £50,000. As an additional property the 5% surcharge applies to every slice, including the first, taking the same purchase to £20,000 — four times as much.
What happens just above the first-time buyer cliff edge?+
First-time buyer relief is withdrawn entirely above £500,000, and it goes all at once: at £500,000 a first-time buyer pays £10,000 against a mover’s £15,000, and one pound more wipes that £5,000 saving out completely. Below the cliff the £300,000 nil-rate band does the work — at £450,000 it saves £5,000, making the bill £7,500 rather than the £12,500 a home mover would pay.
Does the effective rate mean I pay that on the whole price?+
No — it is the total bill expressed as a percentage of the price, useful for comparison. The actual charge is worked slice by slice, which is why the effective rate is always below the highest band the purchase reaches.