This was also higher than the £1.1bn paid towards the tax during the same month last year. HMRC said the higher tax figure was down to an increased number of transactions during the month.
For the year so far, £10.2bn has been paid in stamp duty land tax (SDLT), compared to a total of £9.7bn in the first 10 months of 2023.
For the tax year starting in April, £7.6bn has been paid in stamp duty, up from £7bn last year.
Coventry Building Society warned that homebuyers had just four months until the nil-rate band on stamp duty would be raised, resulting in a higher tax bill.
The threshold is set to be reduced from £250,000 to £125,000 for homemovers and from £425,000 to £300,000 for first-time buyers, which will see more people fall within the tax bracket.
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A recent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast suggested that stamp duty intake would rise 110% by 2030.
Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary relationships at Coventry Building Society, said: “Anyone looking to buy a home in the next few months needs to know this cliff edge is coming. Even if someone agrees to buy a property today, it might not complete before March 31st – buyers may need to budget for the hike.
“Sellers need to have it in their minds too, because if their buyer hasn’t planned for the increase, they could either have to pull out of the sale or attempt to renegotiate the price. It could be really disruptive if people aren’t prepared for it, especially if there are chains involved.”
He added: “We’ve known this cliff edge has been coming for a long time, but I think we all secretly hoped some positive stamp duty changes would have been introduced in the meantime. The only change has been the second property surcharge going from 3% to 5%, so that’s dominated a lot of the recent stamp duty talk, but buyers and sellers need to be really switched on and prepared for what’s coming next April too.”
IHT intake jumps to £5bn
The tax collector has collected £5bn in inheritance tax (IHT) since April, the start of the financial year.
This is an 11% rise on the £4.6bn collected during the same period last year, and could see IHT reach its fourth consecutive annual record.
For the month of October alone, £776m was paid in IHT, slightly higher than £736m in September and up from £691m the year before.
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Inheritance tax is on track for another record year, with receipts so far hitting £5bn. With five months of the tax year yet to go, it should easily outstrip last year’s £7.5bn.
“It may be a tax that so far only hits a small proportion of the population but, after last month’s Budget, it’s about to be an issue for a lot more people, after the decision was taken to make pensions part of someone’s estate for inheritance tax purposes. This won’t kick in until 2027 but will be a major part of many people’s financial planning.”
She added: “We will start to see people gifting away more of their assets while they are alive in a bid to mitigate this tax, and many will want to start early so they can meet the rule of gifts of any value falling out of their estate for inheritance tax purposes after seven years.
“Others will make full use of the other gifting allowances – such as the ability to give up to £3,000 tax-free to anyone and have it fall out of their estate immediately – to help their loved ones while reducing their tax bill.”
