A senior official from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has spent two days working with Warwickshire law firm Lodders to see for himself the issues that Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) has created both for property lawyers and their clients.
Jim Ferguson, business director, Stamp Taxes with HMRC, who has responsibility for SDLT, was invited to visit Lodders by Kevin Martin, the president of The Law Society, a consultant with Lodders.
Mr Ferguson said: "HMRC has a programme to provide managers with direct experience of what life is like on the other side of the fence.
"As someone who is responsible for the implementation of SDLT it was very useful to see first hand how it works in a busy law firm and to discuss how the process can be improved further.
"SDLT is fairly new, having only been introduced in 2003 and I was very impressed with how those who have to make it work have come to grips with it."
