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.
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 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.
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”
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 used in SLfT and information on exemptions
The Minister for Public Finance, Mr McKee, has announced the reappointment of Jean Lindsay, Ken Macintosh, Robert MacIntosh and Idong Usoro as Members of the Revenue Scotland Board.
This publication is part of a monthly series of Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) statistics, started in April 2015, which provides data on the number and value of notifiable transactions reported to Revenue Scotland.
These statistics are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
Revenue Scotland statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
Figure 1: Residential LBTT, excluding ADS, by month, April 2015 – January 2025.
Residential LBTT, excluding Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS), was £29.0 million in January 2025. This is a 35% decrease compared to December 2024.
Residential LBTT, excluding ADS, was 35% lower in January 2025 (£29.0m) than in the previous month (£44.6m). Every year since 2015 has seen a decrease in residential LBTT, excluding ADS, between the months of December and January. Fewer houses are purchased in January than in December, with both January and February typically being a low point in the year for both residential LBTT revenue and residential LBTT returns submitted.
Figure 2: Residential LBTT, excluding ADS, declared in January of each year, 2016-2025.
Residential LBTT, excluding Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS), was the highest yet for the month of January (£29.0 million).
Residential LBTT, excluding ADS, was 10% higher in January 2025 (£29.0m) than in January 2024 (£26.4m). The number of residential LBTT returns submitted in the month of January has been relatively consistent over the years (high of 7,040 in 2021; low of 5,710 in 2023), so the general trend of increasing LBTT revenue is due to rising property prices.
Figure 3: Residential LBTT returns submitted in January each year, 2016-2025.
6,380 Residential LBTT returns were submitted in January 2025.
Figure 4: Non-residential LBTT, excluding ADS, by month, April 2015 – January 2025.
Line chart displaying non-residential LBTT, excluding ADS, was £16.8 million in January 2025. This is a 36% decrease compared to December 2024.
Non-residential LBTT, excluding ADS, was 36% lower in January 2025 (£16.8m) compared to the previous month (£26.3m). This drop between December and January is normal, as non-residential LBTT is typically high in December each year.
Figure 5: Number of non-residential LBTT returns submitted, by type of return, by month, January 2024 – January 2025.
The number of non-residential conveyance returns submitted in January 2025 was the lowest since January 2024. Lease reviews and lease returns increased slightly on the previous month.
Non-residential conveyance returns decreased by 41% in January 2025 compared to the previous month. This drop is expected and follows the usual pattern seen between December and January each year. The number of new leases increased slightly on the previous month, as did the number of lease review returns (which includes 3-year, 6-year and 9-year lease reviews, as well as assignation and termination returns).
Figure 6: Number of LBTT returns received which declared ADS due, for each month of January, 2017-2025.
The number of LBTT returns received which declared ADS due was 1,330 in January 2025. This is slightly lower than January 2024 and is the lowest for any month of January on record, though not by a large margin.
The number of LBTT returns received with ADS declared due was 2% lower in January 2025 (1,330) compared to January 2024 (1,360). This is the lowest so far for the month of January and is 36% lower than the high for the month of January (2,080) received in 2019.
Figure 7: Gross ADS declared due in each month of January, 2017-2025.
Gross ADS declared in January 2025 was £17.8 million. This is the highest for any month of January.
Gross ADS (ADS before reclaims are deducted) was £17.8m in January 2025. This is the highest figure for any month of January. The increase in gross ADS compared to January 2024, despite fewer returns with ADS due, is largely due to the ADS rate increasing from 6% to 8% in December 2024.
We are always interested to hear from our users about how our statistics are used, and how they can be improved.
For enquiries about this publication please contact:
Revenue Scotland Statistics & Management Information Team: statistics@revenue.scot
The appointment of Julie Hesketh-Laird and Stephen Ramsay will be to the Revenue Scotland’s Audit and Risk Committee. They will join the Committees' existing Board Members, Martin McEwen, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee (who will be stepping down from the Board in July 2025), Robert MacIntosh and Simon Cunningham.
