LTT settlement trusts: which trustees must receive WRA notices
Settlement trust notices: the short answer
For an LTT return made by a settlement trust, WRA must send key notices to every relevant trustee it knows. Relevant trustees are those responsible trustees who made the return.
- Check who made the return.
- Check which trustees WRA knew about.
- Keep evidence of every notice and address.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
LTT settlement trusts: which trustees must receive WRA notices
LTT settlement trusts: which trustees must receive WRA notices
If a settlement trust buys land in Wales, Land Transaction Tax (LTT) may involve more than one trustee. That matters if the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) checks the tax return. WRA must send key notices to each relevant trustee it knows about. A notice sent to only one person may not work.
What this rule is about
Land Transaction Tax replaced stamp duty land tax in Wales in 2018. Trusts create a practical difficulty: several people may act as trustees, although not all of them will have made the LTT return.
The rule divides trustees into two groups. Responsible trustees include those in office on the transaction’s effective date and people who become trustees later. Relevant trustees are the responsible trustees who actually made or gave the return.
The distinction may sound narrow. It can decide whether a WRA notice takes effect.
What the official source says
WRA’s technical guidance reflects the legislation for settlement trusts. When WRA opens an enquiry into a return, it must issue the opening notice to every relevant trustee whose identity is known to it.
- WRA may use its information powers separately for each relevant trustee.
- Those requests may differ where that is appropriate.
- Any relevant trustee may ask for a direction requiring a closure notice.
- All relevant trustees may take part in that application.
- WRA must send a closure notice to every known relevant trustee.
The same approach applies when WRA makes a determination or an assessment about the transaction. It must act against, or in respect of, all relevant trustees it knows.
- A determination must cover all known relevant trustees.
- It is ineffective against any of them unless each known relevant trustee receives notice.
- An assessment must cover all known relevant trustees.
- Unless WRA issues notice to each known relevant trustee, an assessment is ineffective in respect of any of them. Notice is essential.
What this means in practice
This is more than a mailing-list point: because the legislation makes valid notice a condition of an effective determination or assessment, WRA must give notice when it knows that several relevant trustees made the return. WRA must notify all known relevant trustees.
One trustee cannot deal with everything. The people who made the return need to know about an enquiry and its outcome.
- Keep a clear record of every trustee who made the LTT return.
- Give WRA accurate names and contact details for those trustees.
- Tell WRA promptly if a contact address changes.
- Keep copies of every notice received by any trustee.
- Compare the names on a determination or assessment with the return.
How to analyse it
Begin with the return rather than the current list of trustees. The key question is who made or gave that particular return. Then check what WRA knew when it issued the notice.
- Check that the trust is a settlement rather than a bare trust.
- Identify the trustees responsible for the transaction.
- Find the LTT return and its declaration.
- List every responsible trustee who made or gave that return.
- Check whether WRA knew each person’s identity.
- Identify the type of notice: enquiry, closure notice, determination or assessment.
- Check whether WRA sent that notice to every known relevant trustee.
Do not confuse a trustee who joined later with a relevant trustee. A later trustee may be a responsible trustee. Only return-makers are relevant trustees.
Example
Amira and Gareth are trustees of a settlement. Both make the LTT return when the trust buys a property in Wales. WRA later opens an enquiry and has both names and addresses. WRA must send the opening notice to Amira and Gareth. Sending it only to Amira does not meet the rule for known relevant trustees.
Now change one fact. If only Amira made the return, she is the relevant trustee under this rule. Gareth may still be a trustee, but the supplied rule does not make him a relevant trustee merely because he holds that role.
Why this can be difficult in practice
Trust paperwork may be dispersed among trustees, a solicitor and a managing agent, so records from several places may be needed to establish who made the return. That can be difficult. Names may also change after a death, retirement or new appointment. That can make it hard to show who made the return and what WRA knew.
The phrase “whose identity is known to WRA” is important, but the material does not explain how WRA must obtain that information or precisely when its knowledge is tested. The timing is unclear. The documents and correspondence may therefore matter a great deal.
- People may treat all current trustees as relevant trustees without checking the return.
- One trustee may receive a notice but fail to share it with the others.
- A trustee’s name may be missing or recorded differently on trust papers.
- WRA may have been told about a trustee in earlier correspondence.
- The label on a document may not show whether it is an enquiry, determination or assessment.
Key takeaways
- Relevant trustees are the responsible trustees who made the LTT return.
- WRA must notify every relevant trustee whose identity it knows.
- A missed known trustee can make a determination or assessment ineffective.
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 trust rules in schedule 8
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 7 — identifies trustees responsible for a trust transaction
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 8 — defines relevant trustees who make the return
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 9 — sets rules for trustee enquiries and assessments
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.
Where this is not settled
- The supplied material does not explain how or when WRA must establish a trustee’s identity.
- The supplied material does not set out the detailed wider rules for WRA enquiries, determinations or assessments.
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 records of trustee appointments and retirements.
- A copy of the LTT return and declaration showing which trustees made it.
- All WRA notices, envelopes, emails and delivery records.
- Correspondence that gave WRA the names and contact details of trustees.
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: which trustees must receive WRA notices [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 trust rules in schedule 8 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/42 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 7 - identifies trustees responsible for a trust transaction https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/8/paragraph/7 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 8 - defines relevant trustees who make the return https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/8/paragraph/8 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 8 para 9 - sets rules for trustee enquiries and assessments https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/8/paragraph/9 Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-trusts-technical-guidance#5998 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 supplied material does not explain how or when WRA must establish a trustee's identity. - The supplied material does not set out the detailed wider rules for WRA enquiries, determinations or assessments. 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: which trustees must receive WRA notices
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