What counts as commercial property
Commercial stamp duty is not a separate tax. It is the same tax charged from a different table: Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Northern Ireland, Land Transaction Tax in Wales, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland. Which table applies turns on what is being bought, not on who is buying it.
HMRC treats all of the following as non-residential:
- commercial property, for example shops or offices
- agricultural land that is part of a working farm or used for agricultural reasons
- forests
- any other land or property that is not part of a dwelling’s garden or grounds
- property that is not suitable to be lived in and cannot be made suitable
- six or more residential properties bought in a single transaction
Mixed use follows the same table rather than being split between the two. A flat connected to a shop, a doctor’s surgery or an office is one mixed transaction, and the whole price is charged at the non-residential rates below. Scotland puts it the same way: a transaction mixing residential and non-residential interests is a non-residential transaction in full. For a home rather than premises, use the residential calculator.
Current non-residential rates
All three nations charge in slices, so each portion of the price is taxed at its own rate and crossing a threshold never drags the whole purchase up with it. Every nation also starts with a nil-rate band, so a small purchase can attract no tax at all.
England and Northern Ireland (SDLT)
Freehold purchase price, or the premium on a lease. These bands have applied since 17 March 2016, and nothing is charged below £150,000. Published on gov.uk.
| Purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £150,000 | 0% |
| £150,000 – £250,000 | 2% |
| Above £250,000 | 5% |
Wales (LTT)
Wales starts charging at £225,000, later than either of the other two, and adds a further band above £1,000,000. These bands have applied since 22 December 2020. Published on gov.wales.
| Purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £225,000 | 0% |
| £225,000 – £250,000 | 1% |
| £250,000 – £1,000,000 | 5% |
| Above £1,000,000 | 6% |
Scotland (LBTT)
Same thresholds as England and Northern Ireland, but the middle band is charged at 1% rather than 2%. These bands have applied since 25 January 2019. Published on revenue.scot.
| Purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £150,000 | 0% |
| £150,000 – £250,000 | 1% |
| Above £250,000 | 5% |
How the bands work
A £400,000 shop in England:
- the first £150,000 at 0% = £0
- the next £100,000 at 2% = £2,000
- the next £150,000 at 5% = £7,500
- total SDLT = £9,500
That is an effective rate of 2.38% on the whole price. The same purchase as a home would be charged from the residential table instead, which starts lower and climbs further.
What commercial buyers do not pay
The surcharges that dominate residential purchases are all written against dwellings, so none of them reaches a commercial or mixed-use deal. The calculator above offers no toggle for any of them for that reason.
- No higher rates for additional property. HMRC excludes non-residential and mixed property from the higher rates, and the Welsh higher residential rates do not reach non-residential purchases either. Buying a tenth shop is charged exactly like buying the first.
- No Additional Dwelling Supplement in Scotland. ADS is charged on dwellings, so a non-residential transaction attracts none.
- No non-UK resident surcharge. The 2% surcharge does not apply to purchases of non-residential property or to mixed transactions.
- No first-time buyer relief. Relief exists for first homes, not first premises.
- No 17% corporate rate. That rate is charged on dwellings over £500,000 bought by certain corporate bodies, so a company buying commercial property pays the ordinary non-residential rates shown here. A company buying a dwelling has its own limited company calculator.
The same price in each nation
Every figure comes from the same tables the calculator above uses.
| Purchase price | England and NI (SDLT) | Wales (LTT) | Scotland (LBTT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| £250,000 | £2,000 | £250 | £1,000 |
| £400,000 | £9,500 | £7,750 | £8,500 |
| £750,000 | £27,000 | £25,250 | £26,000 |
The three nations sit far closer together on commercial property than on housing, where the thresholds and top rates diverge sharply. Full guides: SDLT, LBTT, LTT.
What this calculator does not cover
Freehold purchases, and the premium paid on a lease. Rent under a new commercial lease is charged separately on its net present value and is not modelled here, nor are linked transactions, multiple dwellings relief, or the reliefs and exemptions that apply to particular buyers and particular land. Treat those as needing advice rather than a figure from this page.