Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013 section 13

Beneficiaries under trusts treated as owners

Section 13 of Schedule 2A explains how beneficiaries of certain trusts are treated as owners of dwellings for the purposes of the ADS rules.

• Where a person is a beneficiary under a bare trust, they are treated as the owner of any dwelling held in that trust.
• Where a person is a beneficiary under a settlement and holds a relevant interest in a dwelling forming part of the trust property, they are also treated as the owner of that dwelling.
• This "look-through" approach means the schedule disregards the legal ownership held by the trustee and instead attributes ownership to the beneficiary.
• All references to "ownership" and "acquisition of ownership" throughout the schedule are adjusted to reflect this treatment.