Land Transaction Tax notices: when tribunal approval is needed
Tribunal approval for LTT information notices
The WRA may use formal notices to request information during a Land Transaction Tax check. Approval is especially important for third party notices and for certain older documents.
- Third party notices need agreement or tribunal approval.
- Recipients normally have a chance to comment before an application.
- The tribunal can restrict a request that is too wide.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
Land Transaction Tax notices: when tribunal approval is needed
Land Transaction Tax notices: when tribunal approval is needed
If the Welsh Revenue Authority asks for records about Land Transaction Tax (LTT), often called stamp duty, tribunal approval may matter. It can affect whether the WRA can ask you, or somebody else, for information.
What this rule is about
When checking devolved taxes, the WRA can use formal information notices: a taxpayer notice goes to the person whose tax position is being checked, while a third party notice goes to someone else who may hold useful records. That distinction matters.
Although the WRA can issue a taxpayer notice without tribunal approval in many cases, it cannot issue a third party notice unless the taxpayer agrees or a tribunal approves it. Different conditions apply.
Land Transaction Tax replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales in 2018. These notice rules apply more widely than LTT, but they can be used in an LTT check.
What the official source says
WRA technical guidance identifies approval requirements. A tribunal independently checks proposed formal requests.
- The WRA may seek approval before issuing a taxpayer notice, but it is not always required.
- Approval is always required for a document that wholly originates more than six years before the notice.
- A third party notice needs the taxpayer’s agreement or tribunal approval.
- The tribunal checks different matters if the recipient was not told about the application.
- In that case, it must be satisfied that warning the recipient might harm tax assessment or collection.
- If the recipient was told, they must have been told what the WRA wants.
- They must also have had a chance to comment to the WRA.
- The WRA must give the tribunal details of any comments received.
- For a third party notice, the taxpayer must be told why the material is needed.
What this means in practice
Tribunal applications are not private WRA exchanges. Where the normal notice process applies, the person receiving the request should know what the WRA seeks and have an opportunity to respond before the tribunal considers the application. That is the usual process.
The guidance allows the tribunal to remove notification steps where advance warning, before the application proceeds, could harm tax assessment or collection in the circumstances. Advance warning can harm tax collection.
- Read the request closely and note whether it is a formal notice.
- Check whether it is sent to you or to another person.
- Check the dates of every document requested.
- Keep any letter saying the WRA plans to seek tribunal approval.
- Give the WRA clear comments if you think its request is too broad.
- Do not conceal, destroy or get rid of requested records after being told a formal notice is coming.
How to analyse it
Start with the type of notice, then work through the facts in order, because the label on the envelope matters less than what the WRA is asking for and who holds it. Facts determine the answer.
- Is the request for your own information, or for information held by someone else?
- Has the taxpayer agreed to a third party notice?
- Does the request include a document that wholly dates from more than six years before the notice?
- Has the WRA said it will ask a tribunal to approve the request?
- Were you told what information or documents the WRA wants?
- Were you given a real chance to make comments before the application?
- If another person holds the records, was the taxpayer told why they are needed?
- Could the WRA say that advance warning would harm tax assessment or collection?
Example
Imagine Nia receives a letter saying the WRA wants records about an LTT return. The letter says the WRA plans to seek tribunal approval and lists the records requested. Nia can give comments to the WRA before the application.
Now imagine the WRA asks Nia’s bank for records instead. That is a third party notice. Unless Nia agrees, the WRA needs tribunal approval. The tribunal may also narrow the request if it considers some records unnecessary.
Why this can be difficult in practice
A request may cover relevant records as well as material that goes further than needed, and the WRA guidance says the tribunal can modify a notice rather than simply approving or rejecting everything. Scope is often the key issue.
Age matters, but the official wording is specific. Wholly old documents meet this rule. A document must wholly originate more than six years before the information notice. It is not enough to look only at when a file was last updated.
- A general request for “all records” may need careful checking.
- Documents can contain material created on different dates.
- A third party request is not the same as a request sent directly to the taxpayer.
- Being told that a notice is coming triggers a duty not to destroy or hide the records.
- The WRA guidance is useful, but the legislation remains the legal source.
Key takeaways
- The WRA does not always need approval for a taxpayer notice.
- A third party notice needs agreement or tribunal approval.
- Old documents, notification and the scope of the request can change the result.
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
- TCMA 2016 section 115 — offence of concealing or destroying requested documents
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 statutory skill library covers LTT legislation, not the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 provisions governing these notices. The detailed statutory cross-references and current wording should be checked before relying on this page for a live notice.
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 notice and any list of information or documents requested.
- The date of the notice and the dates of the documents requested.
- Any WRA letter saying that it will seek tribunal approval.
- Any explanation given to the taxpayer about why third-party material is needed.
- Copies of any comments made to the WRA before the application.
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 Land Transaction Tax notices: when tribunal approval is needed [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 - TCMA 2016 section 115 - offence of concealing or destroying requested documents https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/6/section/115 Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/tax-collection-and-management-wales-act-2016-investigative-powers-technical-guidance#6687 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 statutory skill library covers LTT legislation, not the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 provisions governing these notices. The detailed statutory cross-references and current wording should be checked before relying on this page for a live notice. 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: Land Transaction Tax notices: when tribunal approval is needed
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