According to the latest figures from HMRC, overall receipts for stamp duty taxes and annual tax enveloped dwellings for April 2023 to March 2024 came to £14.9bn, which is £4.3bn lower than the same period last year.
Stamp duty tax receipts specifically over the period came to £11.6bn, which is £3.7bn less than the figures for 2022-23.
Looking month-by-month, August took the top slot with £1.13bn, followed by October and December 2023 with £1.1bn.
The statistics show that, between April and December, five months out of nine reported over £1bn in stamp duty receipts, with the remaining four reporting between £867m and £973m.
Since the start of this year, stamp duty receipts have been below £1bn per month, with February the lowest month out of the tax year at £781m, followed by January 2024 at £808m and March 2024 at £864m.
The latest Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast showed that property taxes, which cover stamp duty devolved property taxes and annual tax on enveloped dwelling, will increase by £1.13bn this year and rise year-on-year to reach £22.1bn in 2028-29.
Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary relationships at Coventry Building Society, said: “The Treasury has taken an almost £4bn hit because there were roughly 200,000 fewer property transactions last year. But the tax burden for homebuyers hasn’t lightened at all; they are still paying thousands of pounds to move home.
“Once again, the rumours have started circling that there could be a cut to stamp duty in the Autumn Statement, but we’ve heard that one so many times it now feels like the Treasury crying wolf. Signalling a cut to stamp duty could make future buyers hold fire on their purchase, which may all be for nothing if the rumours don’t amount to anything concrete.
“What buyers need is a definitive review of stamp duty, one [that] also addresses other issues like support for downsizers or helping to make homes more energy efficient, rather than using it like a political beach ball to score votes.”
Capital gains tax falls to £15.4bn
The report noted that around £15.4bn was paid in capital gains tax in the past year, which is down from around £16.9bn in the same period last year.
The latter is the highest annual figure recorded since 2004, and capital gains tax figures have stayed above £10bn since 2019.
The highest month for capital gains tax receipts was January this year at £11.4bn, followed by February at £2.2bn and March at £434m.
The receipts between April and December were all under £200m, ranging from £135m to £177m.
Inheritance tax hits £7.5bn
Inheritance tax receipts over the same period reached £7.5bn, which HMRC said was £400m higher than the same period last year.
The highest figure since the start of 2024 is £676m, which was reported in March 2024, followed by £564m in February 2024 and £556m in January 2024.
Over the course of the whole tax year, June 2023 had the largest inheritance tax receipt at £795m, with October 2023 coming to £691m and then March 2024 at £676m.
The lowest figure during the period was December 2023, which came to £547m.
