Land and Buildings Transaction Tax: amendment to group relief - analysis of responses and Scottish Government response

Executive Summary

8. The consultation ran from 19 March to 13 April 2017. Twelve responses were received in total, of which seven were received online via Citizen Space and a further five received by email and post.

9. Two respondents wished for their personal identity and their organisation's answers to remain anonymous, while a further two respondents did not want their personal name published alongside their organisation's reply. A list of respondent organisations is available in Annex A .

10. The consultation set out four, primarily qualitative, questions and sought views on the proposed draft SSI.

11. All respondents responded to all four questions in the consultation, whilst half of them also provided feedback on the Citizen Space process. An analysis of the question specific replies follows the main findings summary below.

Main findings and themes

12. Respondents to the consultation were unanimously in favour of the Scottish Government amending the legislation for Group Relief in order to address the highlighted issue. There were however a number of specific comments on the Scottish Government's proposed approach to the amendment and the drafting of the statutory instrument. Key points raised by respondents included that:

• the draft legislation would not achieve an outcome equivalent to SDLT.
• equivalence of LBTT group relief with SDLT and LTT would be required.
• Scots Law terminology should be used for the SSI where appropriate.
• The SSI should provide relief in relation to relevant arrangements in jurisdictions anywhere in the world, and not just the UK.
• The proposed amendment should be made retrospective.

13. The Scottish Government's response to relevant issues identified in the consultation responses and its planned future approach is set out at the end of this document.