Welsh government reveals rates for new taxes on land transactions and landfill

The Welsh government has published rates and bands for the new land transaction tax (LTT) and landfill disposals tax which will replace SDLT and landfill tax in Wales from 1 April 2018.

Wales will have the highest starting threshold for the property tax in the UK. Further it will become the first country in the UK to introduce a new higher rate of landfill disposals tax to deter people from disposing of waste illegally.

All buyers of residential properties costing up to £400 000 will pay the same or less tax than under SDLT and the average home buyer will pay nearly £500 less.

For people buying an additional residential property a higher rate of tax will be levied – a surcharge of 3% on top of the main residential rate in each band. This is the same as under the SDLT regime.

For the first two...