The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act provides for a proportional progressive tax structure for both residential and non-residential property transactions.

This includes a nil rate band and at least two other bands. The proposals were first consulted on in June 2012,under a consultation document, Taking Forward a Scottish Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. This set out illustrative scenarios for residential and non-residential property to demonstrate how a progressive rate might work.

The illustrative scenarios do not indicate the government’s proposed bands and rates, which will be set out in its draft budget 2015-16, due to be published in October.

The call for evidence asks for views on the following:

• threshold for the purchase price of the nil rate band for both residential and non-residential property;
• the rate for the other tax bands;
• whether there should be more or fewer bands and, if so, the rate for any additional tax bands;
• whether the rates and bands should be set so that the impact of replacing Stamp Duty Land Tax with LBTT is broadly financially neutral; and
• the proposal to include a lower top rate for non-residential property than for residential property.

It also seeks views on the likely impact of the proposals on the property market and wider economy.

The closing date for the responses is 24 October 2014.

The call for evidence is available http://www.tax.org.uk/Resources/CIOT/Documents/2014/08/Call%20for%20evidence%20-%20final.pdf