SDLTM26040 - Reliefs: Charities relief

Detailed rules for charitable trusts to qualify for relief FA03/SCH8/PARA4

Relief from stamp duty land tax is available to charitable trusts on the purchase of achargeable interest if two conditions are met. These are

• the purchasing charitable trusts must intend to hold the chargeable interest for qualifying charitable purposes. This means

• for use in the furtherance of the charitable purposes of the beneficiaries or unit holders
• as an investment, the profits of which are applied to the charitable purposes of the beneficiaries or unit holders

• that the transaction must not have been entered into for the purposes of avoiding stamp duty land tax by either the beneficiaries or unit holders

A charitable trust is defined as a trust of which all beneficiaries are charities or aunit trust scheme in which all unit holders are charities.

These restrictions are not meant to restrict the genuine use by charitable trusts ofproperties they purchase for charitable purposes and most charitable trusts will have nodifficulty in fulfilling these conditions.