Guidance

Stamp Duty Land Tax: Welsh transactions

Find what to do about Land Transaction Tax when you buy land and property in Wales from 1 April 2018.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 14 December 2017
• Last updated: 7 December 2023 — See all updates

Transactions on or after 1 April 2018

As of 1 April 2018, you’ll pay Land Transaction Tax (LTT) on any land transactions in Wales. LTT is operated by the Welsh Revenue Authority. You can check whether the postcode of land or property is located in Wales by using the postcode checker on the Welsh government website.

You will not have to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) or need to send HMRC a return for these transactions.

For more details about the change from SDLT to LTT, read:

• cross-border guidance
• transitional guidance

Special cases

You’ll still have to pay SDLT and notify HMRC if your transaction matches one of the following cases.

Retrospective notification cases

A retrospective notification case is where the transaction took place before 1 April 2018 but did not become notifiable until after 1 April 2018. You need to tell HMRC about your transaction when it becomes notifiable.

Transitional cases

A transitional case is a land transaction where a contract was entered into before 17 December 2014 but completion took place on or after 1 April 2018.

Cross-border cases

A cross-border case is a transaction for land that falls on both sides of the English-Welsh border. You’ll only pay SDLT on the English part of the transaction. LTT may be payable to the Welsh Revenue Authority for the Welsh part of the transaction.

Multiple interest cases

A multiple interest case is a single transaction relating to multiple properties that are in England, Northern Ireland (or both) and Wales. Only the properties in England and Northern Ireland are subject to SDLT.

Any properties in Scotland that are part of the transaction are subject to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax.

Read more information about Land and Buildings Transaction Tax on the Revenue Scotland website.

Transactions before 1 April 2018

You’ll pay SDLT on all transactions made with an effective date before 1 April 2018.

Send a return to HMRC

You can make an online or paper return for SDLT to HMRC.

Published 14 December 2017
Last updated 7 December 2023 + show all updates

1. 7 December 2023

   Information about where you can find out if land or property is located in Wales has been added.

2. 14 December 2017

   First published.