It has now been confirmed that any late claim for Multiple Dwellings Relief (MDR) cannot be made by claiming overpayment relief.
Often MDR is overlooked by a purchaser as the rules are complex and this leads to claims not being made at the point of purchase. A solicitor may not know the rules as SDLT is now firmly in the court of the tax adviser when previously it was the territory of the law firms.
The time limit to amend an SDLT return is just over 12 months from completion but it was thought that an MDR claim, or other relief claim, could be made outside this window by making a claim for overpayment relief. This effectively extended the deadline to 4 years.
However, following the recent case of Secure Service Ltd v HMRC, it has now been confirmed that overpayment relief does not apply if a relief was not claimed originally. Therefore the window to make an MDR claim is strictly the time limit to amend the SDLT return.
If you think you missed a potential MDR claim on a property purchase and want to know if a claim can now be made, please contact Marc Dorsett in our Private Client department on 01245 228146 or dorsettm@gepp.co.uk.
