LTT settlement trusts: who can ask for a review or appeal?
Settlement trust challenges
For an LTT settlement trust, one relevant trustee can start a review or appeal. Yet the result applies to all relevant trustees.
- Relevant trustees are identified through the LTT return
- All must agree to a settlement agreement
- Known trustees must receive key WRA notices
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
LTT settlement trusts: who can ask for a review or appeal?
One trustee can usually seek review or appeal. Although a single relevant trustee may take that step, the resulting review conclusion or appeal decision can bind every relevant trustee connected with the same transaction. Settlement agreements differ. Every relevant trustee must agree to one.
What this rule is about
Land Transaction Tax (LTT) is the tax on land purchases in Wales. This page concerns a settlement trust, not a bare trust. Settlement trusts do not meet bare-trust definitions.
The key phrase is “relevant trustee”. It does not automatically mean every person who is now a trustee. Under these rules, it means the trustee or trustees who made the LTT return for the transaction.
This detail is important. It shows who may participate when the WRA makes a decision open to challenge.
What the official source says
As the WRA’s guidance explains, Schedule 8 to the LTT Act sets out rules allowing one relevant trustee to begin a review or appeal while preserving the position of the others. The others remain protected.
- All relevant trustees must agree before a settlement agreement is made.
- Any one relevant trustee may request a review of a decision that can be challenged.
- If only some ask for a review, the WRA must notify the other known relevant trustees.
- A trustee who did not ask for the review may join it by telling the WRA in writing.
- The WRA must send its review conclusion to every relevant trustee it knows about.
- The review conclusion applies to all relevant trustees.
The same general approach applies on appeal. One trustee may start it, but its outcome extends beyond that trustee.
- Any relevant trustee may bring the appeal.
- The WRA must notify known relevant trustees who did not bring it.
- Any relevant trustee may be a party to the appeal.
- The final decision on the appeal binds all relevant trustees.
What this means in practice
Although a review request or appeal can be made by one relevant trustee when a response is needed quickly, every relevant trustee may still be affected by its outcome. Nobody should ignore it.
When the WRA reaches its conclusion, the whole group of relevant trustees is affected. A trustee wishing to participate should act when the WRA notice arrives.
- Check who made the original LTT return.
- Keep the WRA updated with names and contact details for relevant trustees.
- Share a review or appeal notice with the other trustees promptly.
- If you want to join a review, tell the WRA in writing.
- Do not treat a settlement agreement like a review request: it needs every relevant trustee’s agreement.
This is easily missed: one trustee may start a challenge, but cannot make a settlement agreement alone.
How to analyse it
Begin by identifying the trustee or trustees who made the return, because present trustees may not all have the same role under these rules. Then identify the stage reached: a proposed agreement, a review, or an appeal.
- Is the trust a settlement trust rather than a bare trust?
- Which trustees made the LTT return for this purchase?
- Has the WRA made a decision that can be reviewed or appealed?
- Is someone asking for a review, bringing an appeal, or proposing a settlement agreement?
- Have all known relevant trustees received the WRA notice?
- Does a trustee who did not request the review want to join it in writing?
- For a settlement agreement, has every relevant trustee agreed?
These questions distinguish the three routes. Their participation rules differ, despite all concerning the same LTT transaction.
Example
Illustration: Aisha and Daniel made the LTT return as trustees of a settlement trust. The WRA subsequently makes a decision that can be reviewed. Aisha requests a review by herself. If the WRA knows Daniel’s identity, it must notify him. Daniel may join the review by writing to the WRA. Whether he joins or not, the WRA’s review conclusion applies to both Aisha and Daniel.
Now alter one fact. If the WRA instead proposes a settlement agreement, Aisha cannot accept it alone. Daniel must also agree because both are relevant trustees.
Why this can be difficult in practice
Trust records can change over time. A person may have joined or left as a trustee after the return was made by a different group, which is why current records alone may mislead. The paperwork matters.
Because the legal label “relevant trustee” attaches to the group that made the return rather than necessarily to those serving now, the return remains central. That label is tied to the return.
- Being a current trustee may not, by itself, answer whether you are a relevant trustee.
- The WRA’s notice duty covers trustees whose identities it knows.
- A trustee may assume another trustee is dealing with the challenge and miss the chance to join it.
- Written notice is specifically required for joining a review started by others.
- A challenge started by one trustee can still have consequences for every relevant trustee.
The source does not give the wider time limits for reviews or appeals. Check those against the decision notice and the rules governing the particular challenge.
Key takeaways
- One relevant trustee can request a review or bring an appeal.
- All relevant trustees must agree to a settlement agreement.
- A review conclusion or appeal outcome binds all relevant trustees.
Technical analysis
For advisers, and for anyone who wants to check the law behind this page. You do not need this section to understand the guidance above.
Legislation
- LTTA 2017 section 42 — applies the trusts rules in schedule 8
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 2 — defines bare trusts and settlement trusts
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 8 — defines relevant trustees through the LTT return
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 10 — sets appeal and review rules for trustees
Official guidance
The pages below are the Welsh Revenue Authority’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how the Welsh Revenue Authority reads the legislation, and it is not binding on you, on a tribunal or on a court. Where guidance and the legislation differ, the legislation wins. the Welsh Revenue Authority can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
- Welsh Revenue Authority, Land Transaction Tax trusts technical guidance, LTTA/5320 Settlement trusts: relevant trustees for purposes of appeals and reviews
Where this is not settled
- The source does not explain the time limits or wider process for asking for a review or bringing an appeal.
- Whether a person is a relevant trustee depends on the return and the trust facts, not simply on whether they are currently a trustee.
Evidence you would need
This kind of case is decided on the facts of the individual property. These are the records that usually settle it, and the ones an adviser would ask you for.
- The trust deed and any later trustee appointment or retirement documents
- A copy of the LTT return showing which trustees made it
- The WRA decision, review request and any notices received
- Written proof that a non-requesting trustee told the WRA they wished to join a review
Explore this with an AI
Readers often want to test their own situation. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It hands the model the actual legislation for this page rather than letting it answer from memory, and tells it to be explicit about what is uncertain. What comes back is information, not advice – check it against the links above.
I am researching Land Transaction Tax (LTT), the tax on property in Wales. It replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales on 1 April 2018, and SDLT does not apply in Wales. MY QUESTION LTT settlement trusts: who can ask for a review or appeal? [Replace this with your own situation: what you are buying, the price, the dates, who the buyer is, and what you plan to do with the property.] THE LAW THIS TURNS ON - LTTA 2017 section 42 - applies the trusts rules in schedule 8 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/42 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 2 - defines bare trusts and settlement trusts https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/8/paragraph/2 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 8 - defines relevant trustees through the LTT return https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/8/paragraph/8 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 10 - sets appeal and review rules for trustees https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/8/paragraph/10 Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-trusts-technical-guidance#6000 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from the Welsh Revenue Authority is its view of the law, not the law, and does not bind a tribunal or a court. 2. Tell me what the rule actually requires, in plain English. 3. Tell me which facts decide the answer, and which facts would change it. 4. Tell me what evidence I would need to support the position. 5. Be explicit about anything unsettled or fact-sensitive. Do not guess. 6. Your training data has a cutoff and SDLT rates and reliefs change at fiscal events. Say so if you are not sure the law is current. POINTS ALREADY KNOWN TO BE UNCERTAIN ON THIS TOPIC - The source does not explain the time limits or wider process for asking for a review or bringing an appeal. - Whether a person is a relevant trustee depends on the return and the trust facts, not simply on whether they are currently a trustee. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 as it stood on 2025-11-17. The law may have changed since, and the rules that apply are those in force on the date of your transaction. The official guidance this page is based on is here.
This page was last updated on 4 September 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: LTT settlement trusts: who can ask for a review or appeal?
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