Revenue Scotland revises view on Partial Charities Relief
Revenue Scotland has revised its view on the application of Schedule 13 of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013 (‘LBTTA’) to cases where a charity is one of a number of buyers who are or will become common owners. We now accept that Charities relief from LBTT may be claimed for the charity’s (or charities’) pro indiviso share(s) of the relevant land transaction.
Waste Fines Consultation Analysis
Following the close of the SLfT consultation on waste fines, we have now published an analysis of the responses and the new ‘waste fines’ section of legislative guidance. This new section of guidance will implement the conditions set out by The Scottish Landfill Tax (Qualifying Material) Order 2016, and will come into force from 1 October 2016.
Revenue Scotland publishes its first annual report
Revenue Scotland has collected £572m in its first full year of operation.
Scotland’s devolved tax authority, which is responsible for the administration and collection of Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT), revealed the total revenue raised when it published its 2015-2016 annual report and financial statements today. The revenue collected is transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund to support the delivery of public services in Scotland.
Reminder of agent reponsibilities for LBTT Arrangements Satisfactory
Revenue Scotland would like to remind agents of their responsibilities in respect to Arrangements Satisfactory for LBTT. Transactions for residential properties with a chargeable consideration of £40,000 and over will require an LBTT return to be made, even if no tax is due. Full details on which land transactions are notifiable for LBTT purposes and which are not can be found at LBTT4003”
Interest rate change effects on Revenue Scotland
On 4 August 2016, the Bank of England announced a 0.25% decrease in the base interest rate. With effect from 10 August 2016, we have amended our rates accordingly. Please visit our penalties and interest pages for more information.
Terminology and Exemptions
Terminology used in SLfT and information on exemptions.
Terminology used in SLfT and information on exemptions
Announcement of the departure of our Chief Executive Officer
After nine years, our Chief Executive Officer, Elaine Lorimer, has announced she will be stepping down from her position later this year.
Monthly LBTT Statistics: March 2025
Key points
- Residential LBTT, excluding Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS), was £33.8m in March 2025. This was 15% higher than in February 2025 (£29.3m) and 13% higher than in March 2024 (£30m).
- Non-residential LBTT, excluding ADS, was £26.7m in March 2025. This was 78% higher than February 2025 (£15m) and 59% higher than March 2024 (£16.8m). Non-residential revenues are highly variable between months, due to the effect of small numbers of high value transactions.
Revenue Scotland website update
The Revenue Scotland website is a key platform for taxpayers, their agents and the organisation. In April, we will be updating our website to provide an improved user experience and to better reflect who we are and what we do.
Some of the key improvements made to the website include:
A decade of Scottish tax administration and collection
A decade on, Revenue Scotland has a reputation for delivering outstanding operational performance and a positive culture where our staff work collaboratively across professional boundaries. Our people survey scores place us in the top 7 organisations across each theme, and we now have 9 professions represented within our teams, including the tax profession whose head of profession is Michael Paterson, our Head of Tax.