Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the proposed residence test in respect of the stamp duty land tax surcharge for non-UK residents purchasing residential property in England and Northern Ireland was determined.

The Government consulted between 11 February and 6 May 2019 on an SDLT surcharge on non-UK residents purchasing residential property in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales have devolved land transaction taxes.

The consultation set out that an individual would be deemed non-UK resident if they spent fewer than 183 days in the UK in the year before transaction. For the purposes of the surcharge it is proposed that days spent in the whole of the UK will be relevant, not just days spent in England and Northern Ireland.

A summary of responses received to this consultation will be published in due course, setting out further details of the policy design.