Big brother is watching property purchases

Later this year your solicitor, or property conveyance person, will be required to file new forms with the Stamp Duty Land Tax Office when you buy a property.The regulations allow old forms to be used, or the new forms, from 1 April 2011 to 3 July 2011. After 4 July 2011 only new forms can be filed. No cause for alarm thus far. Unfortunately like all these things the devil is in the detail!The new forms require that each lead purchaser provide the following unique identifier when completing the forms:

• Individuals - their National Insurance number, or Companies and
• Partnerships - their Unique Tax Reference (UTR) or VAT registration number.

Wonder what HMRC will do with this additional information?No doubt they already have, or will be, setting up tracking processes that link property purchases to the lead purchaser’s tax file. Big brother is watching – So don’t do something foolish – Tax liabilities can be mitigated with good advice and planning.