Revenue Scotland website goes live

The tax authority responsible for the administration of Scotland’s devolved taxes, Revenue Scotland, has set its website live for Scottish taxpayers.

Set up as an administrative unit of the Scottish Government in 2012, Revenue Scotland’s website is now accepting tax returns and managing devolved property and landfill taxes.

In Scotland, the power to administer two new taxes was devolved in the Scotland Act 2012. The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) replace the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and UK landfill tax respectively.

The website features tax calculators and guidance on LBTT and SLfT. Agents dealing with taxes have been able to register to use the new system since February, but the site officially went “live” on 1^st April 2015.

The website includes an online portal from which taxpayers can submit online returns for LBTT, sign up for the LBTT portal or begin the online registration process for SLfT.

Dr Keith Nicholson, chair of Revenue Scotland, said: “Setting up a new tax authority from scratch, developing the IT system, processes, technical training, and all the other things involved in that is a huge task.

“The Revenue Scotland Board has been very impressed by the quality of the work done by all the team.

“This is a significant achievement of which everyone at Revenue Scotland should be rightly proud.”

Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, added: “Today is historic. For the first time in 300 years, with the launch of Revenue Scotland, Scotland is able to collect and manage some of our own taxes.

“Years of preparation and consultation have gone into ensuring this independent agency is ready to manage these two new taxes.”

According to Swinney, the Scottish LBTT rates and bands “mean that no tax will be payable on 50 per cent of house purchases and more than 40,000 home buyers will pay less than they would under UK SDLT.”

Date published 10 Apr 2015 | Last updated 10 Apr 2015