LBTT, land and building tax, land and property tax: the same tax
The formal name is Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. It is what a buyer pays on a residential property purchase in Scotland, and it replaced stamp duty north of the border in 2015. Most people looking for it type something shorter: land and building tax, Scottish land and building tax, or land and property tax Scotland. They all mean LBTT, and the calculator above works out every one of them the same way.
Which tax a purchase attracts depends on where the property is, not where the buyer lives. A buyer living in Glasgow who buys in Newcastle pays SDLT, not LBTT. For the background rather than the numbers, read the full LBTT guide.
Current LBTT rates in Scotland
Standard residential rates
These bands have applied since 1 April 2021. LBTT is banded, so each slice of the price is charged at its own rate and crossing a threshold never pushes the whole purchase into a higher rate.
| Purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £145,000 | 0% |
| £145,000 – £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,000 – £325,000 | 5% |
| £325,000 – £750,000 | 10% |
| Above £750,000 | 12% |
First-time buyer rates
First-time buyer relief raises the nil-rate band from £145,000 to £175,000, a reduction in tax of up to £600. There is no upper price limit on it, so the calculator applies the relief whatever the purchase price. Rates and relief are published on revenue.scot.
| Purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £175,000 | 0% |
| £175,000 – £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,000 – £325,000 | 5% |
| £325,000 – £750,000 | 10% |
| Above £750,000 | 12% |
Additional Dwelling Supplement
A second home or a rental in Scotland pays the Additional Dwelling Supplement on top of the banded LBTT: 8% of the whole purchase price for transactions on or after 5 December 2024. It does not apply where the amount payable for the property is less than £40,000. The ADS page covers who pays it, the cliff edge at £40,000, and how to claim it back after selling a former main home.
What LBTT costs at common prices
Both sets of rates come from the same tables the calculator above uses, so the relief shows up as a number rather than a rule to apply yourself.
| Purchase price | First-time buyer | Standard rates | Relief |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150,000 | £0 | £100 | £100 |
| £200,000 | £500 | £1,100 | £600 |
| £250,000 | £1,500 | £2,100 | £600 |
| £300,000 | £4,000 | £4,600 | £600 |
The relief is worth its full £600 from £175,000 upwards and less than that below, because below £175,000 there is less than £600 of tax to remove in the first place.
How the bands work
A standard buyer paying £250,000 for a home in Scotland:
- the first £145,000 at 0% = £0
- the next £105,000 at 2% = £2,100
- total LBTT = £2,100
A first-time buyer at the same price pays £1,500, because the nil-rate band covers the first £175,000 rather than the first £145,000, leaving £75,000 charged at 2%.
Scotland against the rest of the UK
The same purchase price attracts a different bill in each nation, because each sets its own thresholds and rates. England and Northern Ireland charge SDLT, Wales charges LTT.
| Purchase price | Scotland (LBTT) | England and NI (SDLT) | Wales (LTT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £150,000 | £100 | £500 | £0 |
| £200,000 | £1,100 | £1,500 | £0 |
| £250,000 | £2,100 | £2,500 | £1,500 |
| £300,000 | £4,600 | £5,000 | £4,500 |
What this calculator does not cover
Residential purchases by individuals only. Leases, multiple dwellings relief, and trust purchases sit outside what the LBTT rules here model, so treat those cases as needing advice rather than a figure from this page. A company buying a Scottish dwelling pays ADS from its first one and has its own limited company calculator. Non-residential and mixed-use property is charged from a different table and has its own commercial calculator.