Stamp Duty - Overseas/ UK buyer

Tax Planning and Financial

Hello All,

I am looking at starting a company with a family member to purchase investment properties.

The issue I have relates to my residence � I am a UK citizen, but living in Hong Kong.

My family member is based in the UK.

I am concerned that if I was to buy a property with this family member, the full transaction value would be subject to the overseas stamp duty surcharge of 2%.

Whilst I do not have any objection to the surcharge on my portion of the property, I feel it would be unfair of me to expect my family member to pay the surcharge on their portion of the property. By the same token, the investment wouldn�t make much sense to me if I need to pay the tax on the full transaction value, but only own 50% of the property for example.

Can I ask if you are aware of any options for structuring a company in which this hurdle can be avoided? Or are there any (legal) strategies which could be used to allow us to proceed with this model?

Chris.