Your situation
England, Scotland and Wales compared
Since devolution, a house on either side of the border can carry a very different tax bill. Here is where each regime is cheapest, scanned price by price.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
The cheapest nation depends on the price and on the buyer. For a buyer of a single home, Wales charges least on almost every price up to about £350,000, thanks to its £225,000 nil band, and England and Northern Ireland charge least from £351,000; on a £450,000 home the bills are £12,500 of SDLT, £18,350 of LBTT and £14,250 of LTT. First-time buyers are best off in England at every price from £226,000, because its relief exempts the first £300,000. For landlords and second homes, Wales wins below £403,000 and England above, while Scotland is the dearest at every price because the 8% ADS applies to the full amount: £54,350 at £450,000, against £35,000 in England. All three figures come from scanning prices in steps of £1,000 with the same engine as our calculators.
Which nation taxes your purchase least?
Lowest: Scotland
£5,600
| SDLT, England and Northern Ireland | £6,000 |
| LBTT, Scotland | £5,600 |
| LTT, Wales | £5,700 |
Gap between the dearest and the cheapest nation: £400.
Three taxes since devolution
Until 2015 a single Stamp Duty Land Tax applied across the United Kingdom. Scotland replaced it with Land and Buildings Transaction Tax on 1 April 2015, collected by Revenue Scotland under the LBTT (Scotland) Act 2013. Wales followed on 1 April 2018 with Land Transaction Tax, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority under the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017. Northern Ireland kept SDLT and still pays it to HMRC on exactly the English rules. Each government has since moved its own bands: Scotland’s residential table dates from 1 April 2021, the Welsh main rates from 10 October 2022, the Welsh higher rates from 11 December 2024, the ADS rate from 5 December 2024, and the current English bands from 1 April 2025.
The result is three different shapes. England starts charging early, at £125,000, but gently, with a long 5% band to £925,000. Wales starts late, at £225,000, and then charges 6% straight away. Scotland sits between the two at the bottom and climbs steeply, reaching 10% at £325,001.
Buyers of a single home
| Price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150,000 | £500 | £100 | £0 |
| £200,000 | £1,500 | £1,100 | £0 |
| £250,000 | £2,500 | £2,100 | £1,500 |
| £300,000 | £5,000 | £4,600 | £4,500 |
| £350,000 | £7,500 | £8,350 | £7,500 |
| £400,000 | £10,000 | £13,350 | £10,500 |
| £500,000 | £15,000 | £23,350 | £18,000 |
| £750,000 | £27,500 | £48,350 | £36,750 |
| £1,000,000 | £43,750 | £78,350 | £61,750 |
| £1,500,000 | £93,750 | £138,350 | £111,750 |
| Price range | Lowest tax |
|---|---|
| £1,000 to £125,000 | All three (nothing to pay) |
| £126,000 to £145,000 | Scotland and Wales (equal) |
| £146,000 to £309,000 | Wales |
| £310,000 to £310,000 | Scotland and Wales (equal) |
| £311,000 to £328,000 | Scotland |
| £329,000 to £349,000 | Wales |
| £350,000 to £350,000 | England & NI and Wales (equal) |
| £351,000 and above | England & NI |
Below £126,000 nobody pays anything. Wales then leads, alone or level with Scotland, and its nil band covers the average home in 15 of its 22 councils (area table). Scotland has a short window of its own, from £311,000 to £328,000, where its 5% band is still running while the Welsh 6% band has already taken a bite. From £351,000 England and Northern Ireland are the cheapest and stay so at every higher price, the gap widening as Scotland’s 10% band and the Welsh 7.5% band take hold.
First-time buyers
| Price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| £200,000 | £0 | £500 | £0 |
| £250,000 | £0 | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 | £4,000 | £4,500 |
| £350,000 | £2,500 | £7,750 | £7,500 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | £12,750 | £10,500 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £22,750 | £18,000 |
| £750,000 | £27,500 | £47,750 | £36,750 |
| £1,000,000 | £43,750 | £77,750 | £61,750 |
| £1,500,000 | £93,750 | £137,750 | £111,750 |
| Price range | Lowest tax |
|---|---|
| £1,000 to £175,000 | All three (nothing to pay) |
| £176,000 to £225,000 | England & NI and Wales (equal) |
| £226,000 and above | England & NI |
England’s relief, with no tax up to £300,000, beats everything else on offer. Scotland’s relief lifts the nil band to £175,000 and is worth at most £600. Wales has no relief, but its ordinary nil band of £225,000 is still wider than Scotland’s relieved one. The English advantage narrows above £500,000, where the relief disappears, yet England remains the cheapest even there, because its standard bands are lighter than the Welsh and Scottish ones at those prices. A first-time buyer at £400,000 pays £5,000 in England, £12,750 in Scotland and £10,500 in Wales.
Second homes and buy-to-let
| Price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150,000 | £8,000 | £12,100 | £7,500 |
| £200,000 | £11,500 | £17,100 | £10,700 |
| £250,000 | £15,000 | £22,100 | £14,950 |
| £300,000 | £20,000 | £28,600 | £19,950 |
| £350,000 | £25,000 | £36,350 | £24,950 |
| £400,000 | £30,000 | £45,350 | £29,950 |
| £500,000 | £40,000 | £63,350 | £42,450 |
| £750,000 | £65,000 | £108,350 | £73,700 |
| £1,000,000 | £93,750 | £158,350 | £111,200 |
| £1,500,000 | £168,750 | £258,350 | £186,200 |
| Price range | Lowest tax |
|---|---|
| £1,000 to £39,000 | All three (nothing to pay) |
| £40,000 to £125,000 | England & NI and Wales (equal) |
| £126,000 to £401,000 | Wales |
| £402,000 to £402,000 | England & NI and Wales (equal) |
| £403,000 and above | England & NI |
The surcharges follow three different designs. England adds 5% to each band, so the first £125,000 is taxed too. Wales replaces the main table with its own higher table, starting at 5%. Scotland keeps LBTT unchanged and adds the ADS of 8% on the whole price, which is why it is the most expensive nation for landlords at every price from £40,000. Between the other two, Wales is cheaper up to £401,000 and England from £403,000, with a gap that widens as prices rise. The buy-to-let guide covers company purchases.
The national averages, taxed at home and next door
A fair test uses the prices each nation actually has. On the UK House Price Index for July 2026, the average home costs £293,479 in England, £196,349 in Scotland and £215,037 in Wales. Taxed in its own nation, the English average costs £4,673, the Scottish one £1,026 and the Welsh one £0. Moved across the border, the English average would cost £4,273 in Scotland and £4,108 in Wales. The typical Scottish or Welsh buyer pays less than the typical English one mainly because their homes are cheaper, not only because their bands differ.
Buyers who live abroad
A buyer who spent fewer than 183 days in the UK in the year before completion pays 2% more on every SDLT band, while Scotland and Wales have no such charge. That removes England’s advantage at the top of the market. For a non-resident buying a single home, England and Northern Ireland are never the cheapest at any price we scanned, and Wales is the cheapest from £329,000 upwards, where a UK resident would find England cheapest from £351,000. On £450,000 the non-resident pays £21,500 in England, £18,350 in Scotland and £14,250 in Wales.
Shops, offices and mixed-use buildings
The non-residential tables rank the nations differently again. A £400,000 shop with a flat above costs £9,500 in England, £8,500 in Scotland and £7,750 in Wales, where the commercial nil band runs to £225,000. At £2,000,000 the order turns, because Wales charges 6% above £1,000,000: £97,750 against £89,500 in England and £88,500 in Scotland. The commercial property calculator gives the exact crossover.
What does not change across the border
Some features are the same, or nearly so. All three taxes are charged on the chargeable consideration, slice by slice through the bands (the calculation guide works through it). All three tax a buyer who will own two homes more heavily and refund the extra when a main residence is replaced in time, though the windows differ: 3 years in England, 36 months in Scotland, 3 years in Wales. The return deadline is 14 days in England and Northern Ireland and 30 days in Scotland and Wales. Only England and Northern Ireland charge a 2% surcharge to buyers who live abroad and the 17% rate on company purchases above £500,000.
Using the comparison
Nobody chooses Cardiff over Bristol for the tax alone, but the comparison matters at the margin: for a family weighing a house on either side of the Severn, for a landlord comparing yields in Glasgow and Newcastle, or for a first-time buyer near the Scottish border. Enter your own price in the mini-simulator above, or open the LBTT rates and LTT rates pages for each nation’s full tables.