How to amend an LBTT return
Purpose of this guidance
This guidance will help you amend a Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) return after it has been made (whether online or by paper). This complements the separate guidance available on ‘How to make an online LBTT return’ and ‘How to make a paper LBTT return’.
If you wish to change the details of an online LBTT return before you have made it to us, see the separate guidance on draft returns in the ‘General guidance about the online LBTT return’ section of the ‘How to make an online LBTT return’ guidance.
Note: We do not accept amendments to returns over the phone.
This is not guidance to the tax itself. LBTT legislation guidance for taxpayers and agents is available separately on our website.
Legislation guidance for the RSTPA 2014 is also available, and RSTP1002 of that guidance covers information relevant to the amendment of tax returns.
All references in this guidance to:
- the RSTPA 2014 means The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014;
- ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ means Revenue Scotland; and
- ‘you’ means the person amending the LBTT return (either as the buyer or the buyer’s agent).
Protection of information
We will protect and handle any information that you provide to us in your tax return with care. For further information please see our Privacy Policy and guidance on taxpayer information (Chapter 9 of The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 legislation guidance).
This guidance is divided into two sections:
Amending an online LBTT return post-submission
Amending an online LBTT return post-submission
You can amend an online LBTT return after having made it by:
- selecting the relevant return from the list of returns in the ‘Submitted Tax Returns Overview’ section of the ‘Overview’ page; and
- then selecting the ‘Amend’ option from the ‘Action’ drop-down list.
This will then take you into the LBTT return where you can begin making the necessary amendments (including increasing or decreasing, if relevant, the figure in the ‘Total amount of tax due for this transaction’ field in the ‘About the Calculation’ section). Once you have finished, in order to submit the amended return to us select the ‘Submit’ option in the ‘Declaration’ section of the return.
If more tax is payable as a result of the amendments you have made, then the normal payment rules and arrangements apply – see the separate guidance on ‘How to pay LBTT’. You will also have to separately pay interest on the additional amount of tax payable, charged from the filing date of the return until the date the additional amount is paid. Note: do not include the interest in the ‘Total amount of tax due for this transaction’ question in the ‘About the Calculation’ section of the LBTT return - this is administered separately by us.
If less tax is payable, we will repay that amount to you with interest (see the separate guidance on interest on repayments provided at RSTP4004).
If the amended return contains an inaccuracy then the person on whose behalf the amended return is being made may be liable to a penalty – see RSTP3011.
Additional rules about amending an online LBTT return post-submission
Rule 1: Under section 83 of The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014, no amendment is possible more than 12 months after the filing date and the ‘Amend’ option will be greyed out to prevent you inadvertently doing this after the time limit. If the time limit for amending a LBTT return has passed and you need to make a claim for repayment from us, you can do so as long as it within five years of the filing date – see RSTP7003.
The ‘filing date’, as defined in section 82 of The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014, is ‘the date by which that return requires to be made by or under any enactment’ – in other words it is the last day on which the return can be made to us before it is late. In a standard house purchase, for example, the filing date is 30 days after the effective date of the transaction, but other filing dates apply to other types of land transaction.
Rule 2: You can amend all details on the LBTT return apart from the ‘Description of transaction’ field in the ‘About the Transaction’ section. In other words, a return made to us with the ‘Conveyance or transfer’ option selected cannot be changed afterwards to the ‘Lease’ option, and vice versa.
If you do need to change the ‘Description of transaction’ field (for example, you might have mistakenly confused some of the details of one transaction for another) then in addition to making a new LBTT return to us you must void the original return by:
- selecting the relevant return you wish to void in the ‘Submitted Tax Returns Overview’ section of the ‘Overview’ page; and
- then selecting the ‘Void’ option from the ‘Action’ drop-down list.
Rule 3: In addition to rule 2, although you can amend (subject to the time limit in rule 1) any details in the ‘About the Buyer’, ‘About the Seller’ and ‘About the Transaction’ sections of the return, you should make a new LBTT return and void the original return if any details in these sections alter the transaction to such an extent that it essentially constitutes a different transaction. Examples of this would be:
- the identity of the buyer changing – for example, the original return contained the wrong buyer;
- the identity of the seller changing – for example, the original return contained the wrong seller; or
- the property (or properties) involved in the transaction changing – for example, the original return contained the wrong property (or properties).
For instructions on how to void a return see rule 2 above or the ‘General guidance about the online LBTT return’ section of the separate ‘How to make an online LBTT return’ guidance.
Amending a paper LBTT return
You can amend an LBTT return which has originally been made to us in paper format by writing to us at one of the two addresses shown further below (quoting the return reference number) and telling us, for each field you wish to amend, the current entry and the entry you wish to amend to.
No amendment is possible more than 12 months after the filing date of the return. We will reject any requests for amendments after the expiry of this 12 month amendment period.
The ‘filing date’, as defined in section 82 of The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014, is ‘the date by which that return requires to be made by or under any enactment’ – in other words it is the last day on which the return can be made to us before it is late. In a standard house purchase, for example, the filing date is 30 days after the effective date of the transaction, but other filing dates apply to other types of land transaction.
If more tax is payable as a result of the amendments you have made, then the normal payment rules and arrangements apply (that is, you must send a cheque with the return for the additional amount payable) – see the separate guidance on ‘How to pay LBTT’. You will also have to separately pay interest on the additional amount of tax payable, charged from the filing date of the return until the date the additional amount is paid. Note: do not include the interest in any request to amend the ‘Total amount of tax due for this transaction’ question in the ‘About the Calculation’ section of the LBTT return - this is administered separately by us.
If less tax is payable, we will repay that amount to you with interest (see the separate guidance on interest on repayments provided at RSTP4004).
If the amended return contains an inaccuracy then the person on whose behalf the amended return is being made may be liable to a penalty – see RSTP3011.
All amendments to paper returns and any associated payments must be sent to Registers of Scotland (who process paper returns and cheque payments on our
behalf) at one of the following two addresses:
Address 1:
Registers of Scotland, Meadowbank House, 153 London Road, Edinburgh,
Midlothian, EH8 7AU (DX555401, Edinburgh 15; LP65, Edinburgh 5)
Or
Address 2:
Registers of Scotland, Hanover House, 24 Douglas Street, Glasgow, G2 7NQ
(DX501749, Glasgow 9; LP70, Glasgow 5)
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