Scottish Building Safety Levy: consultation

Part D – Reference and Response

20. Glossary of Terms

Building Safety Levy (BSL)

A tax applied during the construction of new residential properties, to fund building safety expenditure

Dwelling

A unit of residential accommodation occupied (whether or not as a sole or main residence):

1. by an individual or by individuals living together as a family; or
2. by not more than six individuals living together as a single household (including a household where care is provided for residents)

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT)

A tax applied to residential and commercial land and buildings transactions (including commercial properties and commercial leases) where a chargeable interest is acquired

Mid Market Rent

Homes for rent to households on low to middle incomes

New Supply Shared Equity Scheme

A scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy an affordable new build home

Open Market Shared Equity Scheme

A scheme which helps first time buyers on low to moderate incomes to buy a home on the open market (within a certain price threshold) where this is sensible and sustainable for them to do so

Order in Council (OiC)

An Order in Council is a type of legislation made by the King acting on the advice of the Privy Council and approved in person by the monarch

Residential Property Developer Tax (RPDT)

A UK-wide a new tax on profits earned by companies or groups of companies undertaking UK residential property development with

Revenue Scotland

Revenue Scotland is the tax authority with responsibility for the collection and management of Scotland’s devolved taxes

Revenue Scotland Tax Powers Act 2014

Makes provision for a Scottish Tax System to enable the collection and management of devolved tax.

It puts in place a statutory framework which applies to the devolved taxes and sets out in clear terms the relationship between the tax authority and taxpayers in Scotland, including the relevant powers, rights and duties.

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs)

A society or company who provides housing and does not trade for profit

Revenue/Tax authority

A body responsible for collecting and managing taxes

Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT)

A tax on the disposal of waste to landfill, paid by site operators

Scottish Aggregates Tax (SAT)

A tax which will replace the UK Aggregates Levy in Scotland, and will be a tax on the use of rock, sand, and gravel for commercial purposes like building roads and houses

Shared Ownership Scheme

A scheme which allows people to buy a share of a property, with the remainder being owned by a housing association

Single Building Assessment

An assessment of a building which identifies life critical fire safety risks, and any mitigation or remediation that is required to move risks to a building from high risk to low risk

Tax point

A point in time at which a transaction becomes liable for a tax

21. Question List

21.1 Part A - Principles

Question 1

Do you think a new tax on housebuilding, paid by developers, is a fair way to generate revenue to fund the Scottish Government’s cladding remediation programme?

Question 2

Do you agree that homes delivered through the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme should be removed from the Scottish Building Safety levy?

Please give reasons for your answer

Question 3

What are your views on the principle of removing smaller developers from charge of the Scottish Building Safety Levy?

Question 4

If you are agree that small developers should be removed from charge under a Scottish Building Safety Levy, what are your views on the method of determining who is a smaller developer?

Question 5

Are there any other exemptions from a Scottish Building Safety levy that you think should be considered by the Scottish Government?

Question 6

Are there any types of development listed in the exemptions above that you think should not be exempted from a Scottish Building Safety Levy?

Question 7

Do you have any comments on exemptions not covered by the previous questions that you wish to raise?

Question 8

Do you agree that rate of the Scottish Building Safety Levy should be calculated as a proportion of the market value of the property?

Please give reasons for your answer

Question 9

In cases where a property is not sold on the open market, what alternative valuation could be used to calculate the Scottish Building Safety Levy, to ensure proportionality with the market value of the property?

Question 10

In relation to Question 9, Do you have any information on valuations undertaken during the building standards process that would be useful for the Scottish Government to consider?

Question 11

What are your views on using one of the following alternative methods of calculation for the Scottish Building Safety Levy:

• Flat rate per unit
• Rate based on the size (per square metre) of the property
• Rate based on the number of bedrooms of the property
• Rate based on the cost of building works of the property

Question 12

Do you think there should be a different rate applied on brownfield developments?

21.2 Part B – Operational Considerations

Question 13

Do you agree that liability for the Scottish Building Safety Levy should arise in relation to the issuance of acceptance of a completion certificate?

Please give reasons for your answer

Question 14

Do you agree that Revenue Scotland should act as the revenue authority for the Scottish Building Safety Levy?

Please give reasons for your answer

Question 15

Which of the following schedules do you think is the most appropriate for the frequency of returns:

a) Per unit

b) Monthly

c) Quarterly

Please give reasons for your answer.

Question 16

Do you agree that, in relation to the Scottish Building Safety Levy, the tax authority should have the investigatory and enforcement powers set out in Annex B?

If you answered no, please give reasons for your answer.

Question 17

Do you agree that there should be no active conditionality between the issuance of each completion certificate and payment of the Scottish Building Safety Levy?

If you answered no, please give reasons for your answer.

Question 18

What are your views on introducing additional sanctions for taxpayers where Revenue Scotland deem there to be persistent or major non-compliance in paying the Scottish Building Safety Levy?

Question 19

Are there specific aspects of the housebuilding industry that may require a different approach to compliance than set out above?

Question 20

Do you agree with our proposals for dispute resolution in relation to the Scottish Building Safety Levy?

If you answered no, please give reasons for your answer.

Question 21

What are your views on having a sunset clause or end date for the Scottish Building Safety Levy?

Question 22

Do you think there should be a regular review for a Scottish Building Safety Levy?

Please give reasons for your answer

21.3 Part C - Impacts

Question 23

Do you have any information which could inform any final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) relating to the Bill?

Question 24

Are you aware of any examples of particular current or future impacts, positive or negative, on young people, (children, pupils, and young adults up to the age of 26) of any aspect of the proposals in this consultation?

Question 25

Are you aware of any examples of potential impacts, either positive or negative, that you consider any of the proposals in this consultation may have on the environment?

Question 26

Are you aware of any examples of how the proposals in this consultation may impact, either positively or negatively, on those with protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation)?

Question 27

Are you aware of any examples of potential impacts, either positive or negative that you consider any of the proposals in this consultation may have on groups or areas at socio-economic disadvantage (such as income, low wealth or area deprivation)?

Question 28

Are you aware of any examples of how the proposals in this consultation might impact, positively or negatively, on island communities in a way that is different from the impact on mainland areas?

22. Responding to this consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by 18 November 2024

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government’s consultation

hub, Citizen Space. Access to this consultation is available online at: Scottish Building Safety Levy Consultation (consult.gov.scot). You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 18 November 2024.

If you are unable to respond using our consultation hub, please complete the

Respondent Information Form, and send it with your response:

By email to: taxdivisionengagement@gov.scot

Or by post to:

Building Safety Levy Consultation
Directorate for Tax
Area 3D North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ

23. Handling your response

If you respond using the consultation hub, you will be directed to the About You page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete and return the Respondent Information Form included in this document.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy.

24. Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public on the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.

25. Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the contact address above or at: taxdivisionengagement@gov.scot

25.1 Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policymaking process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online at the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review;
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.