Who is P under SDLT section 75A when several people are involved?
Choosing P under section 75A
Where several people may be P, HMRC says to examine the whole connected arrangement rather than follow the transfers in order.
- Map all transfers and related steps
- Identify who gained from the lower-tax route
- Compare the result with a direct transfer
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
Who is P under SDLT section 75A when several people are involved?
Who is P under SDLT section 75A when several people are involved?
In a complex land deal, several people may appear to be P. This matters because P is the person used in the section 75A stamp duty comparison. HMRC says you should not choose people simply by the order in which they appear. Consider the whole arrangement instead.
What this rule is about
Section 75A targets arrangements in which a series of linked steps produces less SDLT than a direct transfer would have produced. It uses short labels. V is the person who gives up the land interest. P is the person who receives it, or an interest derived from it.
Simple sales rarely create a problem. One seller transfers land to one buyer. Complex arrangements can be very different: land may move through several companies, trusts or other parties before the final result is achieved.
The difficult question is then this: which person is P?
What the official source says
HMRC’s manual says that the legislation gives no fixed answer when several people could be P. It says a step-by-step approach is wrong. Instead, HMRC says all connected scheme transactions should be considered together.
- Start with V, the person who gave up the original land interest.
- Identify everyone who received that interest or one derived from it.
- Consider the full set of connected steps, not each transfer alone.
- HMRC says P will be the person who gained the tax benefit.
- HMRC also identifies as a possible P the person who would have paid stamp duty without the arrangement.
This is HMRC’s stated view. The manual is not law, and it cannot replace the conditions in section 75A.
What this means in practice
You cannot safely resolve the point by drawing a line through the transfers and selecting the last name. The first recipient is not necessarily the answer either. The question concerns what the linked arrangement achieved in the real world.
That distinction can decide the tax result.
- Map each transfer of the land interest.
- Include interests that came from the original interest.
- Record who paid money, received money and obtained the final benefit.
- Compare the arrangement with the direct transfer that did not happen.
Where your conveyancer has described a chain as a routine sequence, that description may still leave the SDLT issue unresolved. Section 75A looks beyond the labels used for individual documents.
How to analyse it
Start with the facts and work outward. A diagram is often more useful than a long description, especially where companies or funding steps sit between the original owner and the eventual beneficiary.
- Who was V immediately before the arrangement began?
- What land interest did V give up?
- Who received that interest, or an interest derived from it?
- Which steps were connected parts of the wider arrangement?
- Who obtained the lower-tax outcome from those steps?
- Who would have paid SDLT if V had transferred directly to the relevant person?
- Do the remaining conditions of section 75A apply as well?
The final question matters. Identifying a possible P does not, by itself, mean section 75A applies.
Example
Imagine that Maya owns land worth £800,000. After Maya transfers the land to Company A, Company A grants rights over it to Company B, and, through those linked steps, Company B ultimately obtains the practical benefit of the land. That is the relevant outcome. If both companies could appear to be P, HMRC’s manual says not to select Company A merely because it came first.
Instead, consider the whole plan. If Company B is the party that obtained the benefit of the lower-tax route, and it is the party that would have paid SDLT on a direct transfer from Maya, HMRC’s approach points towards Company B as P. The figures do not decide this by themselves. The connected facts do.
Why this can be difficult in practice
Real arrangements may involve genuine business reasons, finance steps and several changes in legal ownership. Those facts can make it difficult to identify who truly gained from the route taken. A document may show one thing, while the wider deal shows another.
- Being the last person in the chain does not automatically make someone P.
- Being the first recipient does not automatically rule someone out.
- A funding step may be important, even if it does not transfer land.
- The amount paid at one stage may not show who gained overall.
- Missing documents can make the direct-transfer comparison hard to test.
This is where people often go wrong. The answer does not come from applying a simple sequence. It depends on the purpose and effect of the arrangement as a whole.
Key takeaways
- P need not be either the first or the last person in a chain of transfers.
- HMRC says to assess every connected step together.
- Focus on the person who gained the tax benefit and who would have paid on a direct transfer.
Technical analysis
For advisers, and for anyone who wants to check the law behind this page. You do not need this section to understand the guidance above.
Legislation
- FA 2003 section 75A — identifies V and P in connected land transfers; requires a series of connected scheme transactions; compares tax due with a direct notional transfer
Official guidance
The pages below are HMRC’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how HMRC reads the legislation, and it is not binding on you, on a tribunal or on a court. Where guidance and the legislation differ, the legislation wins. HMRC can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
Where this is not settled
- Where several people receive the original land interest, or interests derived from it, the legislation gives no step-by-step selection rule.
- The answer can depend on the full commercial and legal effect of every connected step.
Evidence you would need
This kind of case is decided on the facts of the individual property. These are the records that usually settle it, and the ones an adviser would ask you for.
- Contracts, transfers and completion statements for every step.
- A diagram showing who held each land interest before and after each step.
- Details of payments, funding and who gained from the lower-tax route.
- Evidence of what would have happened without the arrangement.
Explore this with an AI
Readers often want to test their own situation. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It hands the model the actual legislation for this page rather than letting it answer from memory, and tells it to be explicit about what is uncertain. What comes back is information, not advice – check it against the links above.
I am researching UK Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), which applies in England and Northern Ireland. MY QUESTION Who is P under SDLT section 75A when several people are involved? [Replace this with your own situation: what you are buying, the price, the dates, who the buyer is, and what you plan to do with the property.] THE LAW THIS TURNS ON - FA 2003 section 75A - identifies V and P in connected land transfers https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/75A/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 75A - requires a series of connected scheme transactions https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/75A/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 75A - compares tax due with a direct notional transfer https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/75A/2025-11-17 Guidance page from HMRC on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm09160 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from HMRC is its view of the law, not the law, and does not bind a tribunal or a court. 2. Tell me what the rule actually requires, in plain English. 3. Tell me which facts decide the answer, and which facts would change it. 4. Tell me what evidence I would need to support the position. 5. Be explicit about anything unsettled or fact-sensitive. Do not guess. 6. Your training data has a cutoff and SDLT rates and reliefs change at fiscal events. Say so if you are not sure the law is current. POINTS ALREADY KNOWN TO BE UNCERTAIN ON THIS TOPIC - Where several people receive the original land interest, or interests derived from it, the legislation gives no step-by-step selection rule. - The answer can depend on the full commercial and legal effect of every connected step. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show Finance Act 2003 as it stood on 2025-11-17. The law may have changed since, and the rules that apply are those in force on the date of your transaction. The official guidance this page is based on is here.
This page was last updated on 31 August 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Who is P under SDLT section 75A when several people are involved?
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