First land transaction tax data released for all Welsh local authorities

The tax authority started collecting and managing land transaction tax in April 2018, when the tax replaced stamp duty land tax in Wales.

The WRA is estimated to raise £1 billion in revenue over a 4-year period to support public services, such as the NHS and schools, in Welsh communities.

This is the first time the WRA is producing annual statistics by geographical area, including local authority and constituency level data. Prior to April 2018, HMRC produced statistics for stamp duty land tax.

The statistical release, published on the WRA website, mainly covers the period from April 2018 to end of March 2019; key highlights include:

• A total of 61,750 transactions for land transaction tax
• £226.9 million tax due for sales and leases of property and land in Wales
• £154.5 tax due for residential transactions. This included:
  • £59.1 million additional revenue raised from higher rates
  • £6.7 million higher rate refunds. Refunds have already been subtracted off the figures above for tax due
• £72.5 million tax due for non-residential transactions

Note that headline figures at the Wales level are also presented for April and May 2019 in this release.

At a local authority level, the WRA data highlights some variations for residential and non-residential transactions. For example, higher rate transactions, as a percentage of all residential transactions, varied between 16% in Torfaen and 37% in Gwynedd.

These transactions can be subject to higher rates for a variety of reasons, including:

• the purchase of buy-to-let properties
• second homes or holiday homes
• bridging between 2 properties, and
• purchases by companies, such as social housing providers

Dyfed Alsop, Chief Executive of the WRA, said:

These statistics relate to our first operating year, collecting and managing land transaction tax. We’re proud that the revenue we raise supports essential public services in communities across Wales.

As a data-driven organisation, we want to learn from these data to improve our services for taxpayers in future. We believe data is central to the approach we’re taking to tax, which involves supporting people to pay the right amount of tax at the right time.

Adam Al-Nuaimi, Head of Data and Analysis for the WRA, said:

The interesting feature of this release is that we have local area data for the Land Transaction Tax for the first time. The variation in the data between local authorities can be readily seen in both residential and non-residential statistics.

We have also been able to further develop the residential dataset to include figures at an Assembly constituency level and for areas of deprivation, as measured by the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. In years to come, we hope to be able to provide similar data on non-residential transactions.

The WRA was established as a tax authority by Welsh Government in October 2017. The tax authority is the first non-ministerial department of Welsh Government.

For further information, visit the WRA website.