LBTT Calculator (Scotland)
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) is Scotland's version of Stamp Duty, payable whenever you buy a residential or non-residential property or piece of land in Scotland above a certain value. It replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in Scotland from April 2015, when tax devolution gave the Scottish Parliament the power to set its own property transaction tax rather than following the rest of the UK's rules.
LBTT is collected and administered by Revenue Scotland, not HMRC, and operates broadly like SDLT and Wales's Land Transaction Tax — a marginal, banded tax charged on the purchase price — but with its own distinct thresholds, rates and reliefs that can differ meaningfully from the equivalent English and Welsh taxes. Anyone buying property in Scotland needs to use LBTT rates specifically; applying SDLT figures from an England-focused calculator will give the wrong answer.
For a standard residential purchase in 2026/27, LBTT is charged marginally across five bands, confirmed unchanged in the Scottish Budget for 2026/27: 0% on the portion of the price up to £145,000, 2% on the portion from £145,001 to £250,000, 5% from £250,001 to £325,000, 10% from £325,001 to £750,000, and 12% on anything above £750,000.
Being marginal (rather than a "slab" tax) means each rate only applies to the slice of the price that falls within that band — buying a £300,000 property doesn't mean the whole price is taxed at 5%, only the £50,000 slice between £250,001 and £300,000 is. The bands below that slice are still taxed at their own lower rates, exactly as with SDLT and LTT. This structure avoids the sharp "cliff-edge" jumps in tax that a slab system would otherwise create right at each threshold.
Buying a second home, a buy-to-let property, or any additional residential property in Scotland triggers the Additional Dwelling Supplement — an extra flat-rate charge of 8% of the entire purchase price, on top of whatever standard LBTT is due. Unlike the standard nil-rate band, ADS applies from the very first pound of the purchase price, with no lower threshold before it kicks in.
This mirrors the equivalent surcharges in England (5% on SDLT) and Wales (4% on LTT), though Scotland's 8% rate is the highest of the three nations. ADS applies to companies buying residential property in Scotland in the same way as individuals, and — as with the equivalent English and Welsh surcharges — using a limited company or SPV doesn't avoid the charge.
Take a standard buyer (not a first-time buyer) purchasing a £280,000 home in Edinburgh. £145,000 falls in the 0% band (£0 due), £105,000 falls in the 2% band (£145,001 to £250,000, giving £2,100), and the remaining £30,000 falls in the 5% band (£250,001 to £280,000, giving £1,500). Total LBTT due: £0 + £2,100 + £1,500 = £3,600.
Now compare the same £280,000 purchase as a first-time buyer: the nil-rate band extends to £175,000 instead of £145,000, so £175,000 is tax-free, £75,000 falls in the 2% band (£175,001 to £250,000, giving £1,500), and the remaining £30,000 falls in the 5% band, giving £1,500. Total: £0 + £1,500 + £1,500 = £3,000 — a saving of £600 compared with the standard-buyer figure, which is the maximum possible saving from first-time buyer relief, achieved once the price reaches or exceeds £250,000.
Finally, consider the same £280,000 property bought as a buy-to-let or second home. The standard LBTT of £3,600 still applies, but the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement is added on top of the full £280,000 price: £280,000 × 8% = £22,400. Total LBTT payable: £3,600 + £22,400 = £26,000 — illustrating just how significant ADS is for anyone buying an additional Scottish property, and why it needs to be budgeted for well before completion.
All three UK property transaction taxes — LBTT in Scotland, SDLT in England and Northern Ireland, and LTT in Wales — share the same basic marginal-band structure, but the actual thresholds, rates, surcharge percentages, and reliefs differ meaningfully between them, so figures from one nation's calculator can't simply be applied to a property in another. Scotland's 0% band (up to £145,000) is notably lower than England's SDLT nil-rate threshold, meaning a lower-value property in Scotland can attract LBTT where an equivalent-priced England property would pay no SDLT at all.
Scotland's 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement is also the highest of the three nations' surcharges (versus 5% for England/NI's SDLT surcharge and 4% for Wales's LTT surcharge), making additional-property purchases in Scotland proportionally more expensive on the way in than the equivalent purchase elsewhere in the UK, even before comparing the underlying standard rates. Anyone buying across borders — or comparing where to invest in a buy-to-let — should run the actual LBTT, SDLT or LTT figures for each specific location rather than assuming the taxes are broadly interchangeable.
A common situation catches out buyers who are moving home but haven't yet sold their previous main residence: if you buy a new main home before selling your old one, you're initially charged the 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on the new purchase, because at the point of completion you technically own two residential properties. However, if you sell your previous main residence within 18 months of the new purchase, you can reclaim the ADS paid, as long as the property you sold was genuinely your main residence and the new property becomes your main residence.
Certain transactions are exempt from LBTT altogether or qualify for specific reliefs beyond first-time buyer relief and the ADS reclaim — transfers between spouses or civil partners on separation or divorce, property left in a will (though inheritance itself may trigger other taxes), and purchases by registered social landlords under specific conditions are among the more common exemptions. Multiple Dwellings Relief can also reduce LBTT when buying more than one dwelling in a single transaction (such as a small block of flats), by averaging the price across the dwellings rather than taxing the whole sum as one property — though the ADS 8% supplement still generally applies to the additional dwellings within that relief calculation.
Because reliefs and exemptions can meaningfully change the LBTT due, and getting eligibility wrong can mean a penalty or interest charge from Revenue Scotland later, it's worth confirming eligibility with a solicitor or conveyancer handling the purchase rather than relying solely on a general calculator for anything beyond a standard, straightforward purchase.