Scotland’s devolved tax authority, which is responsible for the administration and collection of land and building transaction tax (LBTT), the equivalent of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) in the rest of the UK and Scottish landfill tax (SLfT), raised £571.9m 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016, according to the 2015-16 annual report and financial statements.

The majority of the tax take from was from tax on property sales amounting to £424m.

The new penalty system raised £311,000 during the 2015-2016 reporting period through penalties and interest. This included £297,000 for penalties for late registration, late returns and late payments. In addition, interest charges on late penalty payments accounted for a further £14,000.

Almost all (98%) of the 115,000 tax returns were submitted online via the Scottish Electronic Tax System (SETS), higher than expected based on initial estimates for electronic submissions which were set at 90%.

The annual report also reviewed overall performance, noting that the average waiting time for calls into the Revenue Scotland support team was 10 seconds. Responses to written correspondence were sent within 10 days.

The Scottish tax authority’s operating costs were £4.67m, which was less than the Scottish government’s original £4.81m budget allocation for the organisation. The total operating cost represents 0.9% of the total tax collected during 2015-2016.

Revenue Scotland chairman, Dr Keith Nicholson, said: ‘The first full year of operation for Revenue Scotland has been hugely successful. Setting up Scotland’s devolved tax authority is no small feat and is a real testament to the hard work and dedication of the staff.

‘In its first year the organisation collected £572m through the devolved taxes and established a robust online tax system which has already exceeded expectations.’

Welcoming the report, Scottish government’s finance secretary Derek Mackay said: ‘These figures show that Revenue Scotland has had a successful and efficient first year, collecting £572m in tax and operating under-budget. That figure is £74m higher than initial estimates.

“The scale of the challenge of introducing the first Scottish taxes in more than 300 years should not be underestimated, and it’s encouraging to see this has been done so effectively.’

The revenue collected is transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund to support the delivery of public services in Scotland.

Under the Scotland Act 2016, further taxes are being devolved to Scotland and Revenue Scotland will become responsible for their administration and collection in due course.

The 2015-16 Revenue Scotland Annual Report is available here