Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 section Schedule 2 paragraph 14

References to the seller in free-standing transfer scenarios

Schedule 2, paragraph 14 explains how to identify who counts as the "seller" for Land Transaction Tax purposes when a pre-completion transaction involves a free-standing transfer — either directly or because the original contract itself was a free-standing transfer — and the property ultimately reaches the transferee.

• The general rule is that the "seller" for the relevant land transaction is treated as the seller under the first appropriate transaction in the chain, which is normally the original contract.
• For certain specified provisions (covering debt as consideration, carrying out of works, buyer indemnities, public body transfers, and planning obligation relief), the term "seller" is broadened to include the seller in the first appropriate transaction, the transferor under the final transaction, and any intermediate transferor whose pre-completion transaction shares subject-matter with those transactions.
• When determining whether the relevant land transaction is linked to another transaction, any of those same parties — the seller in the first appropriate transaction, the transferor under the final transaction, or an intermediate transferor — may be treated as the seller.
• If the original contract is not performed at the same time as and in connection with the final transaction, the "first appropriate transaction" shifts from the original contract to the earliest pre-completion transaction in the chain that is performed at the time of the final transaction, underpins the transferee's entitlement to the property, and is not preceded by another transaction meeting those same conditions.