Guidance on Forms for Scottish and Welsh Land Transaction Notifications

Which stamp tax return system applies in Scotland and Wales?

For land transactions, SDLT is no longer the right return system for most property in Scotland or Wales. SDLT still applies in England and Northern Ireland, but Scotland uses LBTT from April 2015 and Wales uses LTT from April 2018, so the correct tax, authority and filing process mainly depend on where the land is located and when the transaction took effect.

• Land in England and Northern Ireland generally remains within the SDLT system.
• Land transactions in Scotland are generally subject to LBTT instead of SDLT from April 2015.
• Land transactions in Wales are generally subject to LTT instead of SDLT from April 2018.
• If the land is in Scotland or Wales, you usually should not use HMRC SDLT forms for transactions falling within the devolved regimes.
• You should check both the location of the land and the effective date of the transaction before deciding which tax return system applies.
• Using older SDLT guidance can cause confusion, and special or transitional cases may need further review.

Scroll down for the full analysis.

Scottish and Welsh land transactions: which stamp tax return system applies?

This page is about a simple but important point: HMRC’s SDLT forms are no longer used for most land transactions in Scotland or Wales. Since devolved property taxes replaced SDLT in those parts of the UK, the correct authority, tax, and filing system depend mainly on where the land is located. This matters because using the wrong tax regime or return process can lead to delays and confusion.

What this rule is about

Stamp taxes on land transactions are no longer handled under a single UK-wide system. SDLT continues to apply in England and Northern Ireland, but Scotland and Wales now have their own devolved land transaction taxes.

The source material is dealing with the practical consequence of that change: if the land is in Scotland or Wales, you generally do not notify the transaction using an SDLT form. Instead, the transaction falls within the separate Scottish or Welsh tax regime.

What the official source says

The official HMRC material states that:

• From April 2015, SDLT no longer applies to land transactions in Scotland. Those transactions are instead subject to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, usually referred to as LBTT.
• From April 2018, SDLT was replaced in Wales by Land Transaction Tax, usually referred to as LTT.
• For those taxes, the source points readers away from HMRC and towards the relevant devolved authority’s guidance and systems.

In other words, HMRC’s SDLT processing guidance is not the right route for Scottish transactions after the Scottish start date, or Welsh transactions after the Welsh start date.

What this means in practice

The key practical question is: where is the land?

If the land is in Scotland, the transaction is not notified through the SDLT system if it falls within the post-April 2015 Scottish regime. If the land is in Wales, the transaction is not notified through the SDLT system if it falls within the post-April 2018 Welsh regime.

That means:

• the tax may be a different tax, not SDLT;
• the return may need to be made to a different authority;
• the forms, online systems, and guidance may be different from HMRC’s SDLT process.

For conveyancers and taxpayers, this is not just a naming change. It affects which legislation applies, which authority administers the tax, and which filing route should be used.

How to analyse it

A sensible way to approach the issue is:

• Identify where the land is situated.
• Check the effective date of the transaction.
• Match the transaction to the correct territorial tax regime.
• Use the filing and payment system for that regime, not HMRC’s SDLT system if the transaction is within Scottish LBTT or Welsh LTT.

The source material itself is brief, but it clearly points to a territorial split:

• England and Northern Ireland remain within SDLT.
• Scotland moved to LBTT from April 2015.
• Wales moved to LTT from April 2018.

So the first question is not “Which SDLT form do I use?” but “Is this even an SDLT transaction?”

Example

Illustration: a buyer completes a purchase of residential property in Edinburgh after April 2015. Even if the buyer or adviser is familiar with SDLT forms, this is not an SDLT filing matter under the HMRC regime described in older SDLT guidance. The transaction falls within the Scottish system and must be considered under LBTT instead.

Similarly, if a property in Cardiff is acquired after April 2018, the relevant tax is not SDLT under HMRC’s Welsh processing guidance. The transaction must be considered under the Welsh LTT regime.

Why this can be difficult in practice

The source page is short, but real transactions can be less straightforward than it suggests.

Difficulty can arise if someone relies on older SDLT material without noticing that Scotland and Wales now have separate taxes. There can also be confusion where people assume SDLT is still the default UK-wide system.

Another practical difficulty is timing. The source gives start dates for the devolved regimes, so the date of the transaction matters. Older transactions may fall under SDLT, while later ones may not. The source does not set out transitional rules or edge cases, so it should not be read as resolving every cross-border or timing issue by itself.

The page is also about processing and forms, not a full statement of the substantive law for LBTT or LTT. So while it clearly tells you that HMRC’s SDLT route no longer applies to relevant Scottish and Welsh transactions, it does not explain the detailed charging rules of those devolved taxes.

Key takeaways

• SDLT no longer applies to Scottish land transactions from April 2015; LBTT applies instead.
• SDLT was replaced in Wales by LTT from April 2018.
• The first practical question is where the land is located, because that determines which tax authority and return system you should be using.

This page was last updated on 24 March 2026

Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Guidance on Forms for Scottish and Welsh Land Transaction Notifications

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