What is the first-time buyer relief threshold for LBTT in Scotland?

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Scotland operates Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) instead of Stamp Duty Land Tax, and it has its own first-time buyer relief that works by raising the nil-rate starting threshold rather than offering a separate flat-rate discount. **How the relief works** Instead of a special reduced-rate band structure like the English first-time buyer SDLT relief, the Scottish first-time buyer relief simply raises the point at which LBTT starts being charged from the standard £145,000 threshold to £175,000 for qualifying first-time buyers -- above £175,000, the same standard LBTT bands and rates apply as for any other buyer. **Who qualifies as a first-time buyer** To qualify, the buyer (and, in a joint purchase, generally all buyers) must never have owned a residential property anywhere in the world before, and the property being bought must be intended as their only or main residence -- as with equivalent reliefs elsewhere in the UK, previously owning property overseas can disqualify someone from first-time buyer status even if they have never owned in the UK. **Worked example** A first-time buyer purchases a flat in Edinburgh for £200,000. Without the relief, standard LBTT would apply from £145,000, but with first-time buyer relief, no LBTT is due on the first £175,000 of the price. LBTT is only charged on the portion between £175,000 and £200,000 (£25,000), taxed at the relevant standard LBTT band rate applying to that portion -- resulting in a meaningfully lower bill than a non-first-time buyer paying LBTT from £145,000 on the same £200,000 purchase. **Maximum saving from the relief** Because the relief works by raising the nil-rate threshold by £30,000 (from £145,000 to £175,000), and the LBTT band immediately above the standard threshold is taxed at 2%, the maximum saving available from Scottish first-time buyer relief is capped at £600 (2% of £30,000) -- purchases well above the threshold still benefit from this saving, but it does not grow proportionally larger for more expensive properties. **No relief on properties above certain values** Unlike some other first-time buyer reliefs elsewhere in the UK that are withdrawn entirely above a certain property price, the Scottish first-time buyer relief's raised threshold generally still applies regardless of the overall purchase price, since it is simply a higher starting point for the standard bands rather than a scheme with its own price ceiling -- however, the cash value of the saving (capped at £600) becomes proportionally less significant relative to LBTT payable on higher-value purchases. **Interaction with the Additional Dwelling Supplement** First-time buyer relief only applies to a buyer's only or main residence; it does not reduce or exempt anyone from the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) if they are buying a second property while already owning another residential property, since by definition someone who already owns a home does not qualify as a first-time buyer in the first place. **Practical tip** If you are a genuine first-time buyer purchasing in Scotland, make sure your solicitor or conveyancer applies the £175,000 nil-rate threshold (rather than the standard £145,000) when calculating your LBTT, since this relief is not always applied automatically and needs to be correctly claimed as part of the LBTT return submitted on completion.

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