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

Question 3 Responses

23. The third question was "Do you have any other comments, not covered by the previous questions, on the draft legislation in Annex A?" Eleven respondents commented on this question, with three of these referring to comments made previously.

24. Half of the replies to question three suggested that retrospective application of the draft SSI was required. With regard to this, the CIOT questioned why primary legislation had not been brought forward and sought clarity as to the position for any relevant past transactions where group relief had been claimed.

25. Similarly ICAS noted that "We believe this measure should be in primary legislation, and applied retrospectively, given that this was always the policy intention and that some groups have now been disadvantaged. There is a precedent for retroactive measures, in the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Relief from Additional Amount) (Scotland) Bill currently in the Parliament. We trust that a similar process will apply here, with an act as soon as possible". Other respondents provided similar comments, available in the published consultation responses on citizen space.

26. The other comments offered drafting suggestions for the SSI, intended to reflect points made in responses. One respondent pointed out a typographical error in the draft SSI.