No extenuating circumstances to extend deadline

The taxpayer and his wife jointly bought a house in Edinburgh with an effective date of 11 February 2022. On that date they still owned another property in Edinburgh. They submitted their land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) return for the second property in which they included the additional dwelling supplement (ADS). They specified in the return that they intended to sell their other residence within 18 months. However because of market conditions the sale of that property did not complete until 25 August 2023. The relevant 18-month period ended on 12 August 2023.

The taxpayer claimed repayment of the ADS stating that the reason was the sale or disposal of a previous main residence. He said in the return that ‘we tried our utmost to achieve a sale within the deadline’.

Revenue Scotland refused the claim and the taxpayer appealed. He said he considered his...