Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013 section 12

Options and rights of pre-emption

Section 12 explains how LBTT applies when someone acquires an option to buy land or a right of pre-emption over land, treating these as separate taxable transactions from any subsequent purchase.

• Acquiring an option over land or a right of pre-emption is itself a land transaction, separate from any later transaction that results from exercising that option or right.
• The acquisition of the option or right and the subsequent land transaction may be treated as linked transactions, which could affect the rate of tax applied to each.
• The effective date for tax purposes is the date the option or right is acquired, not the later date when it becomes exercisable.
• These rules do not apply where the option or right of pre-emption already forms part of a land transaction that would be taxable in its own right without this section.

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