28.06.19
Welsh government raises £226m from new land tax
The Welsh government have raised £226m from a new ‘land transaction tax’ to replace stamp duty.
The new tax was introduced in April 2018 as allowed by a new devolution package giving Wales control of parts of their tax code.
Properties sold for over a certain amount must pay the new tax to the Welsh Revenue Authority; £180,000 for residential, £150,000 for non-residential land or buildings.
There were almost 62,000 transactions in the past financial year which raised a total of £226.9m.
Adam Al-Nuaimi, head of data and analysis for the WRA, said: “The interesting feature of this release is that we have local area data for the Land Transaction Tax for the first time.
“The variation in the data between local authorities can be readily seen in both residential and non-residential statistics.
“We have also been able to further develop the residential dataset to include figures at an Assembly constituency level and for areas of deprivation, as measured by the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation.
“In years to come, we hope to be able to provide similar data on non-residential transactions.”
Over a third of the residential transactions in Gwynedd, the county which includes much of Snowdonia National Park and Bangor University, were taxed at a higher rate.
Most of the transactions were for residential properties, with the average price of a home in Wales currently £160,000 and increasing each year.