BN20 - Stamp Taxes Reliefs for Exchange Intermediaries

Who is likely to be affected?

  1. Intermediaries on securities exchanges who qualify for relief from stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) on the purchase of UK shares, or for repurchases and stock lending.

General description of the measure

  1. Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2007 to bring the reliefs into line with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) which will come into effect on 1 November 2007.

Operative date

  1. The measure will have effect on and after 1 November 2007

Current law and proposed revisions

  1. Currently share purchases by intermediaries must be carried out on or reported to an exchange or multilateral trading facility of which the intermediary is a member in order to be relieved from stamp duty and SDRT. In future, transactions in shares that are admitted to trading on a regulated market under MiFID will no longer need to be reported to that market, nor will intermediaries need to be members of that market, in order for intermediaries to qualify for relief.
  2. The rules under which regulations may be made removing stamp duty and SDRT from transactions involving investment exchanges and clearing houses will also be changed to bring them into line with the markets that are defined in MiFID.

Further advice

  1. Draft legislation was published by HM Revenue & Customs on 20 February 2007 and is available on the HM Revenue & Customs website.
  2. If you have any questions about this change, please contact Ian Burton on 020 7147 2788 or via email