Land and Buildings Transaction Tax: consultation on an amendment to group relief

Annex A: Draft Regulations

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

These regulations amend the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013 (“the Act”) to amend schedule 10 of the Act which provides for group relief. In terms of paragraph 3 of that schedule relief is not available if at the effective date there are in place arrangements by virtue of which a person or persons get control of or could obtain control of the buyer but not the seller. In terms of the amendment group relief is available if shares in the company are mortgaged by a legal or equitable charge provided the contingency allowing the mortgage to be called up does not arise. The amendment also gives the same relief in the case an arrangement in Scotland analogous to a pledge but with rights (not rights in security) in shares or securities transferred to a creditor subject to the creditor’s obligation to retransfer the rights back to the debtor if certain conditions are met, provided the rights are retransferred to the debtor without the debtor’s right to have the rights retransferred back having been lost at any stage.