The Scottish and UK governments announced in January 2023 that the Inverness and Cromarty Firth and Forth Green freeports had been jointly selected to become Scotland’s first “Green Freeports”.
The Scottish Government says Green Freeports are designed to boost innovation and inclusive growth within communities while:
As part of its approach to Green Freeports, the Scottish Government proposes to provide relief from Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) for certain types of transactions within a Green Freeport designated tax site.
The relief will be either a full or partial reduction in the amount of LBTT payable.
The Scottish Government says LBTT relief will:
The Scottish Government has laid secondary legislation in Parliament seeking approval for this relief.
Read The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Green Freeports Relief) (Scotland) Order 2023 (SSI2023/Draft)
Read its accompanying explanatory notes.
The Finance and Public Administration Committee is the lead committee for considering this secondary legislation. It will report to Parliament later this year.
The Committee took evidence on the draft Order at the following meetings:
The Committee took evidence from the Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance
Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) for this meeting
The Committee took evidence from the Scottish Property Federation and Unite the Union
Read the agenda, papers and Official Report (substantially verbatim transcript) for this meeting
The Committee published its report on the draft Order on 22 September 2023. Read the Committee's report here:
The Committee was seeking views on The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Green Freeports Relief) (Scotland) Order 2023 (SSI 2023/draft). The call for views closed on 15 August 2023.
The Committee received 5 submissions to its call for views. Read the submissions on Citizen Space:
The call for written views opens.
The call for written views closes.
Witnesses invited to give oral evidence.
The committee reports to Parliament.