How to make an LTT refund claim in Wales
LTT refund claims at a glance
You normally have four years from the day after the relevant filing date to make an LTT refund claim. Use WRA’s suitable online form and support the claim with clear records.
- Do not put the claim in an LTT return.
- Include the amount, reason, declaration and evidence.
- Amendments normally have a 12-month limit.
- Partnerships and contract settlements have special claimant rules.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
How to make an LTT refund claim in Wales
If you think you paid too much Welsh land transaction tax, you may be able to ask for it back. This is an LTT refund claim, not an SDLT stamp duty claim. The main deadline is four years, so the date of your original return matters.
What this rule is about
A refund claim addresses a problem outside the usual time for changing an LTT return. Claims can cover three errors. They include tax paid twice, tax charged too highly, or tax paid when it was not due.
The claim process gives the Welsh Revenue Authority, or WRA, enough information to check the position. It enables repayment or cancellation.
Do not treat a claim as a spare box on your tax return. It is a separate process.
What the official source says
WRA says you should use its online refund forms wherever possible. You must make the claim within four years beginning with the day after the filing date for the related return, assessment or determination.
- Use the form for the type of refund claim you are making.
- Confirm which of the three claim situations applies.
- State the amount that should be repaid or cancelled.
- Explain why you say there has been double payment or overpayment.
- Give details of any earlier tax charge linked to the claim.
- Provide statements, documents and other material WRA reasonably needs.
- Make a declaration that the details are correct to the best of your knowledge and belief.
- Keep the records needed to make a full and correct claim.
WRA says it will accept a claim only if the relevant information and evidence have been provided. You should not make the claim by putting it in an LTT return.
If WRA agrees, it will issue a decision notice and repay or cancel the amount. Where you had already paid it, WRA says it will repay the amount with interest.
What this means in practice
To work out whether the four-year period remains open, begin with the filing date for the related return, rather than the property purchase date, because the period starts on the following day. That date controls the deadline. A claim sent late may fail even where the underlying mistake is clear.
Next, gather the evidence before starting the form. A bare statement that too much tax was paid may not allow WRA to decide the claim.
- Keep the completion papers and LTT return.
- Keep proof of the payment made to WRA.
- Set out the calculation that produces the refund amount.
- Keep documents that show why the original result was wrong.
- Save a copy of the claim and the material sent with it.
- Keep those records after making the claim.
There can be a penalty for failing to keep and preserve records as required. That is why record keeping is part of the claim process, not an afterthought.
How to analyse it
Ask the questions in this order. They help separate a possible refund from a claim that is ready to send.
- What was the filing date for the relevant LTT return?
- Is the claim still inside the four-year time limit?
- Which claim situation applies to the facts?
- What exact amount should be repaid or cancelled?
- What caused the double charge, excessive charge or overpayment?
- What documents prove that explanation?
- Has an earlier tax charge already dealt with part of the issue?
- Are you changing an existing claim rather than making a new one?
- Is there an open WRA enquiry into that claim?
You may change a claim by notifying WRA and explaining the grounds for the change. However, you cannot amend it more than 12 months after the original claim was made. You also cannot amend it while a WRA enquiry is open.
Example
When Sam checks an earlier LTT payment and finds that the same amount appears to have been paid twice, Sam must use the suitable online claim form rather than add a note to a later LTT return. Sam must provide payment evidence. The form should explain the earlier charge and payments and state the amount claimed.
Suppose WRA needs more documents to decide whether the two payments relate to the same tax. Sam must provide the material WRA reasonably requires. If WRA accepts the claim, it will issue a decision notice and repay the amount with interest if Sam had already paid it.
Why this can be difficult in practice
Although spotting that something looks wrong may be straightforward, the hard part is often showing exactly why the payment, assessment or determination, in the circumstances of the claim, produced too much tax. The explanation must be exact.
You might think a refund request can simply be added to the next return. It cannot. WRA says claims must be made separately.
- The filing date can be different from the date you remember paying.
- A claim needs evidence, not only an explanation.
- A change to a claim has its own 12-month deadline.
- An open WRA enquiry stops you amending the claim during that enquiry.
- Partnership claims need nomination by all relevant responsible partners.
- A person who paid under a contract settlement may be the person who must claim.
There is another important point. If your refund claim also shows that WRA could assess you for tax, WRA may make that assessment even if its normal time limit has passed. It must do so before the claim is finally determined.
A claim is not finally determined while the amount remains unsettled, such as during a review or appeal. In a contract-settlement case, when a repayment is due to the claimant and an amount is due from the taxpayer, WRA may set one against the other, so that each obligation is cleared only to the extent of that set-off. Only the set-off is cleared.
Special rules now apply to claims about a lease of a home to a Welsh Local Authority. The official source points to separate guidance for those claims. This page does not state those conditions or time limits.
Key takeaways
- Make an LTT refund claim separately from an LTT return.
- Check the four-year deadline from the day after the filing date.
- Send the explanation, amount, declaration and evidence together.
- Keep the records that support your claim.
- Check the special rules if a partnership or contract settlement is involved.
Technical analysis
For advisers, and for anyone who wants to check the law behind this page. You do not need this section to understand the guidance above.
Legislation
- TCMA 2016 section 62 — relief where tax has been charged twice
- TCMA 2016 section 63 — relief where a tax assessment is excessive
- TCMA 2016 section 63A — relief for overpaid devolved tax
Official guidance
The pages below are the Welsh Revenue Authority’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how the Welsh Revenue Authority reads the legislation, and it is not binding on you, on a tribunal or on a court. Where guidance and the legislation differ, the legislation wins. the Welsh Revenue Authority can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
Where this is not settled
- This page does not set out the three types of claim in full. The correct type depends on why the tax was paid or charged.
- The source refers to special 2026 rules for leases of homes to Welsh Local Authorities but does not give their detailed conditions or deadlines.
- Whether documents are enough will depend on what WRA reasonably needs to decide the individual claim.
Evidence you would need
This kind of case is decided on the facts of the individual property. These are the records that usually settle it, and the ones an adviser would ask you for.
- A copy of the relevant LTT return, assessment or determination
- Details of the amount said to be repayable or dischargeable
- An explanation of why the tax was paid twice, overpaid or assessed too highly
- Details of any earlier charge connected with the claim
- Documents and statements supporting the facts
- The required declaration that the information is correct to the best of the claimant’s knowledge and belief
- For a partnership, evidence that all relevant responsible partners nominated the person making the claim
- For a contract settlement, the contract and evidence of who must pay under it
Explore this with an AI
Readers often want to test their own situation. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It hands the model the actual legislation for this page rather than letting it answer from memory, and tells it to be explicit about what is uncertain. What comes back is information, not advice – check it against the links above.
I am researching Land Transaction Tax (LTT), the tax on property in Wales. It replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales on 1 April 2018, and SDLT does not apply in Wales. MY QUESTION How to make an LTT refund claim in Wales [Replace this with your own situation: what you are buying, the price, the dates, who the buyer is, and what you plan to do with the property.] THE LAW THIS TURNS ON - TCMA 2016 section 62 - relief where tax has been charged twice https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/6/section/62 - TCMA 2016 section 63 - relief where a tax assessment is excessive https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/6/section/63 - TCMA 2016 section 63A - relief for overpaid devolved tax https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/6/section/63A Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/tax-collection-and-management-wales-act-2016-claiming-refund-technical-guidance#6495 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from the Welsh Revenue Authority is its view of the law, not the law, and does not bind a tribunal or a court. 2. Tell me what the rule actually requires, in plain English. 3. Tell me which facts decide the answer, and which facts would change it. 4. Tell me what evidence I would need to support the position. 5. Be explicit about anything unsettled or fact-sensitive. Do not guess. 6. Your training data has a cutoff and SDLT rates and reliefs change at fiscal events. Say so if you are not sure the law is current. POINTS ALREADY KNOWN TO BE UNCERTAIN ON THIS TOPIC - This page does not set out the three types of claim in full. The correct type depends on why the tax was paid or charged. - The source refers to special 2026 rules for leases of homes to Welsh Local Authorities but does not give their detailed conditions or deadlines. - Whether documents are enough will depend on what WRA reasonably needs to decide the individual claim. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 as it stood on 2025-11-17. The law may have changed since, and the rules that apply are those in force on the date of your transaction. The official guidance this page is based on is here.
This page was last updated on 3 September 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: How to make an LTT refund claim in Wales
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