Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 section 36

Co-ownership authorised contractual schemes

Section 36 explains how land transaction tax applies to co-ownership authorised contractual schemes, treating them as if they were companies for most purposes.

• A co-ownership authorised contractual scheme (COACS) is treated as a company for LTT purposes, with participants' rights treated as shares — but this company treatment does not extend to group relief or reconstruction/acquisition relief.
• Where a COACS is structured as an umbrella scheme with separate pools, each sub-scheme (separate pool) is treated as its own individual COACS rather than the umbrella being treated as one single scheme.
• The operator of the scheme — not the scheme itself or its participants — is responsible for fulfilling all obligations under the Act that would normally fall on the buyer in a land transaction.
• The Welsh Ministers have the power to make regulations excluding specific types of scheme from being treated as a COACS for LTT purposes.