History of Stamp Taxes

The Stamp Office is the oldest part of HM Revenue & Customs, and celebrated its 300th Anniversary in 1994. We were once responsible for collecting duty on a wide range of activities, covering matters as disparate as medicine bottle labels, playing cards, dice and cheques. We are proud of our long heritage, as it has helped us to develop into the modern business organisation we are today.

We are now responsible for the assessment and collection of stamp duty land tax (SDLT), for transactions involving UK land and buildings effected on or after 1 December 2003, stamp duty on land transactions effected before that date and stamp duty on stocks and shares. We also collect and monitor stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) arising on transactions involving stocks and shares, and interests held in collective investment schemes that are settled within or outside of the UK electronic share settlement system called CREST'.

We are committed to meeting the needs of our customers, by making our services available and accessible in a variety of ways. We have received the prestigious Charter Mark Award five times in recognition of our high standards of service delivery and our continuing drive for service improvement.