General description

From 1 April 2018, LTT replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on residential and non-residential property and land interests purchased in Wales. The tax rates and tax bands for LTT vary depending on the type of transaction.

Taxpayers must notify the WRA of all land transactions with a value above £40,000. There are also circumstances where certain lease transactions are not notifiable if they are less than 7 years in duration. When filing an LTT return, the organisation paying the return has 30 days after the effective date to submit and pay the return.

This dataset includes estimates of LTT notifiable transactions received by the WRA by the close of 15 April 2024.

The dataset focuses on residential transactions subject to a higher rate refund and includes the number of transactions subject to a refund, and the aggregate value of those refunds, broken down by:
- either the local authority area (each of the 22 local authorities in Wales); the National Park area (each of the 3 National Parks in Wales), the Senedd Constituency area (each of the 40 Senedd Constituencies in Wales); or the deprivation area (see below) of the transaction
- effective quarter and year of the original transaction
When a refund for higher rates residential transaction is claimed, the original transaction is amended to a main rate residential transaction.

WIMD ranks were updated recently (2019). We have used these latest WIMD ranks in this release. Each update of WIMD ranks is designed to last for around three to six years. When we first published this analysis last year, we used 2014 WIMD ranks.

Note the number and value of refunds presented for later effective dates is lower than that for earlier periods. This is because compared with earlier periods, insufficient time has passed since the transaction was effective for many of the relevant taxpayers to sell their previous main residence and claim their refund.

Data on the time taken to claim refunds can be found in the alternative dataset which compares the quarter of the original transaction with the quarter in which the refund is approved by the Welsh Revenue Authority.
The deprivation areas represent a division of Wales into ten approximately equally populated areas, known as deciles, using deprivation ranks attributed to the nearly 2000 small areas in Wales (called Lower Super Output Areas), as measured by the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD). WIMD decile (or tenth) 1 is the most deprived, down to WIMD decile (or tenth) 10, which is the least deprived.

A full explanation of how this dataset should be interpreted, especially in the context of higher rates transactions, can be found here: https://gov.wales/welsh-revenue-authority-local-area-statistics-2021-2022-explained-html

Data collection and calculation

See weblinks

Frequency of publication

Annual

Data reference periods

Data are shown by the financial year (April to March) in which the transaction was effective.

Users, uses and context

These statistics have been established to meet the immediate user requirement for data on the implementation of LTT, following the establishment of the WRA. Our key users are colleagues from the Welsh Treasury within the Welsh Government, the Office of Budget Responsibility, and other tax authorities in the UK.

Rounding applied

Values in this dataset are rounded to the nearest 10 for the transactions for which a refund applies, and the nearest £0.1 million for the aggregate value of the refunds.

Revisions information

Land Transaction Tax statistics are regularly revised and the values for the latest period are provisional. When filing a LTT return, the organisation paying the return has 30 days after the ‘effective date’ to submit and pay the return. The effective date is when the tax becomes liable to be paid, usually when a transaction is completed on a property. Additional LTT transactions relating to the most recent month are therefore likely to be filed during the following month. See weblinks for analysis of these revisions.

Values for earlier periods are subject to revisions for several years. Transactions can be amended for a variety of reasons and the statistics are revised each month to reflect amendments to transactions. In particular, this will be due to higher rate refunds. When a refund for higher rates residential LTT is claimed, the original transaction is amended to a main rate residential LTT transaction. The taxpayer has up to three years to sell their previous main residence and claim a refund.

Title

Land Transaction Tax statistics for higher rate refunds, by local authority area, National Park area, Senedd constituency area, deprivation area or built-up area and effective date

Last update

25 April 2024 25 April 2024

Next update

April 2025

Publishing organisation

Welsh Revenue Authority

Source 1

Land Transaction Tax returns, Welsh Revenue Authority

Contact email

data@wra.gov.wales

Designation

None

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Built-up areas

Geographical coverage

Wales

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

Weblinks

https://gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-statistics
https://gov.wales/key-quality-information-land-transaction-tax-statistics
https://gov.wales/funding/fiscal-reform/welsh-taxes/land-transaction-tax

Keywords

Land Transaction Tax; LTT; Tax

Statistical quality

See weblinks

Name

WRAX0062