Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work, Derek Mackay MSP, has today announced plans to increase the current 3% rate of Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) to 4% from 25 January 2019.

In his Budget Statement to Parliament, Mr Mackay also set out the Scottish Government’s intention to change Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) rates for non-residential transactions from the same date.

The proposed non-residential rates and bands are set out in the table below.

Scotland’s tax authority raised revenue of £707m in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) for the Scottish Consolidated Fund during 2017-18.

The combined total of LBTT and SLfT transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund since Revenue Scotland began operating also reached £1.8bn by 31 March 2018.

The increase in revenue was revealed in the tax authority’s 2017-18 Annual Report and Financial Statements which were published today (Tuesday 2 October).

On 2 August 2018, the Bank of England announced a 0.25% increase in the base interest rate (now 0.75%). Revenue Scotland has amended its rates accordingly and these will take effect from today (Wednesday 8 August). Updated information is available in online guidance documents 4002, 4003 and 4004.

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The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on Land and Buildings Transaction Tax – Property Investment Funds.

The consultation will include ‘seeding’ and is due to close on 2 August 2018. The Scottish Government is inviting comments to be sent to the consultation hub https://consult.gov.scot/fiscal-responsibility/seeding-relief/ or by email to david.kerrouchi@gov.scot.

Revenue Scotland has this week published its second Corporate Plan, setting out the strategic objectives for the organisation from 2018 – 21 and the Key Performance Indicators that will be used to measure progress against these objectives.

Scotland’s devolved tax authority has today (Thursday 29^th March) updated its online system to allow tenants of commercial leases in Scotland to submit a further Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) return electronically from 1 April 2018.

Revenue Scotland has introduced updates to the Scottish Electronic Tax System (SETS) so that tenants holding a non-residential lease can meet their legal obligations under the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013.

The legislation states that LBTT tenants must submit a further LBTT tax return:

The first three-year review of tax chargeable on leases for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) begins on 1 April 2018.

The review, which will apply to the majority of LBTT leases, is a legal requirement set out in the LBTT (Scotland) Act 2013. Under the Act, tenants are required to submit a further return to Revenue Scotland every three years to review the lease and assess whether the correct amount of tax has been paid.

The Scottish Government has today launched a consultation on the First Time Buyer Relief as announced in the Scottish draft Budget on 14 December. The consultation will close on 23 March 2018 and the Scottish Government is inviting comments to be sent to the consultation hub https://consult.gov.scot/fiscal-responsibility/first-time-buyers-relief/ or by email to lbtt.ftb@gov.scot.

The Scottish Government has today announced its Draft Budget for 2018-19.

This includes the intention to introduce a new relief on LBTT for first-time buyers in Scotland which increases the zero-rate threshold from the current level of £145,000 to £175,000. The Budget document sets out Scottish Government plans to launch a consultation on the LBTT policy proposals and this is expected to begin in January.