Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 Schedule 21A paragraph 9

Completion of contract after relief period

Schedule 21A paragraph 9 protects the special tax site relief where a contract that was substantially performed during the relief period is formally completed by transfer after the relief period has ended.

• This provision applies where a contract for a land transaction was substantially performed (but not formally completed) during the relief period, and the transaction qualified for full or partial special tax site relief at that time.
• If the contract is subsequently completed by a formal transfer after the relief period has ended, the usual rule that treats the completion as a separate additional land transaction does not apply, provided the only reason it would have been treated as a separate transaction is that it fell outside the relief period.
• In effect, this means the buyer is not penalised with a withdrawal of relief simply because the legal formalities of completion took place after the relief period expired, so long as the substantive transaction had already occurred within the period.
• The terms "completed", "contract" and "transfer" carry the same meanings as defined in section 10(10) of the Act, which sets out the general rules for contracts and transfers in land transactions.