What is the proportion of commercial land transactions valued over £1million in Wales, where an investor or other property purchaser buys the share of a company which owns a property rather than buying it directly, and is thus ineligible for the 6 per cent higher land transaction tax rate?
Where shares in a company which owns land or buildings are sold there will be a share transaction. If that company is a UK company the buyer of the shares will pay stamp duty on the consideration given for the shares. However, as a land transaction will not have occurred there will be no liability for land transaction tax if the land or buildings owned by the company are in Wales (or stamp duty land tax if in England or Northern Ireland, or land and buildings transaction tax if in Scotland).
There will have been some share transactions, where the company in which the shares are bought owns land or buildings in Wales with a market value over £1 million. However, the taxation of share transactions is a reserved matter. Therefore, the Welsh Government does not collect or hold data on these transactions.