Before the new Scottish property taxes have even been introduced, the Scottish government has announced revisions to the proposed rates and bands for residential property transactions under its new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), which replaces stamp duty land tax (SDLT) in Scotland from April
The move follows Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement in the December Autumn Statement of substantial changes to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) regime for England and Wales, bringing in a threshold system similar to the new Scottish approach.
Speaking to the Treasury select committee earlier this week, Osborne said the subsequent changes in Scotland signalled growing ‘tax competition’ between the two jurisdictions.
Under the revisions announced by Scotland’s finance minister John Swinney, the threshold for beginning to pay LBTT will be increased to £145,000 from the original £135,000 announced in October in Scotland’s draft Budget. Swinney said this would support first time buyers by taking 50% of transactions, or another 10,000 homes, out of tax altogether compared to current system of SDLT.
A m
