How this works
Land Transaction Tax (LTT) is the Welsh replacement for Stamp Duty Land Tax, devolved by the Wales Act 2014 and administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority (Awdurdod Cyllid Cymru) since April 2018. It's the third version of UK property-purchase tax — England, Scotland and Wales now all run independent systems.
The headline structural choice is the absence of a first-time-buyer relief. The Senedd deliberately set the 0 % threshold higher (£225,000 vs. SDLT's £125,000) so that most first homes in Wales fall below it anyway, and reasoned that a FTB carve-out on top would add complexity without helping the bottom of the market. The result is a simpler standard scale: 0 % to £225,000, 6 % to £400,000, 7.5 % to £750,000, 10 % to £1.5M, then 12 % above.
For additional dwellings (buy-to-let, second homes), Wales uses an entirely separate higher residential rate scale rather than England's surcharge model: 5 % from the first £1, 8.5 % from £180,001, 10 % from £250,001, 12.5 % from £400,001, 15 % from £750,001 and 17 % from £1.5M. The rates jumped meaningfully in the 11 December 2024 changes — the 0 – £180,000 band rose from 4 % to 5 %, the next band from 7.5 % to 8.5 %, and so on across the scale. A typical £250,000 BTL therefore pays £15,925 in LTT now versus £13,650 before — a £2,275 increase on the same property.
The formula
Bands are the post-11-December-2024 figures published by the Welsh Revenue Authority. The higher scale starts at the first £1 rather than at the standard 0 % threshold — there's no nil-rate band for additional dwellings, unlike Scotland where ADS sits on top of standard bands. Excludes non-residential property (own LTT scale), Multiple Dwellings Relief, and the special rules for transfers between connected companies.
Example calculation
- Main residence, £300,000 home.
- £225k × 0 % + £75k × 6 % = £4,500. Effective 1.50 %.
- As a buy-to-let: £180k × 5 % + £70k × 8.5 % + £50k × 10 % = £18,950. Effective 6.32 %.
Frequently asked questions
Why no first-time buyer relief at all?
Policy decision. The Senedd's view at LTT launch in 2018 was that a flat-rate 0 % band up to £180,000 (later raised to £225,000) already covered most first-home prices in Wales, and that targeted reliefs add administrative complexity and create cliff edges. The data backs them up reasonably well — median first-time-buyer prices in Wales are around £180,000 versus £260,000 in England, so the higher universal threshold helps more buyers in practice than a separate FTB band would. If you're buying your first home in a hot-spot like Cardiff Bay where prices run above the threshold, the lack of relief stings — but you'd still face a smaller LTT bill than a comparable London FTB would face on SDLT before relief, just because Welsh prices are lower.
Why does the higher scale start at the first £1 with no 0 % band?
It's a different design choice from England (SDLT keeps the 0 % band at £125k even with the surcharge) and Scotland (LBTT keeps the £145k 0 % band even with ADS). Wales' LTT higher scale treats the entire purchase price as taxable from £1 because the policy intent is to discourage additional-dwelling purchases at every price point, including the cheapest. The £180k starting band rate of 5 % is roughly equivalent to England's 5 % surcharge plus the 0 % band, and Scotland's 8 % ADS spread across a typical purchase price — three different administrative paths to similar headline burdens. A £50k BTL in Wales pays £2,500 LTT; in Scotland it would pay £4,000 ADS plus £0 LBTT; in England it would pay £2,500 SDLT under the additional-dwelling 5 % stack. Roughly equal pain.
Does the standard scale apply if I sell my main home and buy another?
Yes — and you only pay LTT on the new purchase, not on the sale. Replacing your main residence is exactly the use case the standard scale is designed for, even if you complete the new purchase before selling the old one (a common scenario when chains break). In that case you initially pay the higher scale because you technically own two dwellings on completion day, but you can reclaim the difference via a refund from the Welsh Revenue Authority once the old home sells, provided the sale completes within 3 years. The refund process is standardised — keep the LTT paperwork and submit a claim. This calculator doesn't model the refund directly; punch in your scenario as the higher scale to see the upfront cost, then mentally subtract the difference to standard scale as your eventual refund.