The Acts for Scotland's devolved taxes

There are two tax specific Acts of the Scottish Parliament:

The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2016 amended the 2013 Act, providing for an Additional Dwelling Supplement of LBTT on purchases of additional residential properties in Scotland (such as buy-to-let properties and second homes) of £40,000 or more.

The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Relief from Additional Amount)(Scotland) Act 2018 (the “2018 Act”) amended the 2013 Act to give retrospective effect to the amendments made by the Land and Transaction Tax (Additional Amount-Second Homes Main Residence Relief)(Scotland) Order 2017 (the “2017 Order”). The 2018 Act enables qualifying buyers who have paid the additional amount of LBTT prior to the 2017 Order being made to claim a repayment in certain circumstances where spouses, civil partners or co-habitants jointly buy a new home to replace their old home and the old home was owned by only one of them.

In addition, the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 (RSTPA 2014) received Royal Assent in September 2014.

This legislation has 3 main purposes:

it establishes Revenue Scotland as the tax authority responsible for the collection and management of the devolved taxes
it sets out the statutory framework within which Revenue Scotland will operate, including: its constitution; its relationship with the taxpayer; investigatory and enforcement powers; and a new distinctively Scottish approach to combatting tax avoidance
it provides a clear and robust tax management framework which could readily be adapted in the event of the Scottish Parliament being granted more tax powers.

23 February 2024