TREASURY AND RESOURCES MINISTER
Land Transaction tax (LTT)
Administration and Collection process
- Purpose of Report
Under Article 21(a) of the draft Taxation (Land Transactions) (Jersey) Law 200- the Minister for Treasury and Resources may, by Order, prescribe any matters that shall or may be prescribed under this Law . This Ministerial Decision is to enable the Minister for Treasury and Resources to approve those items to be prescribed in order to permit the Law Draftsman to prepare an Order.
The Data Protection Registrar has requested that processes surrounding the administration and collection of LTT are approved by the Minister so that Data Protection implications are clearly defined.
- Process
Administering LTT will involve the following processes:
- One (or both) of two forms will be completed by the purchaser of shares (see Appendix A). This will be handed to a member of Treasury Cashiers who will stamp the form and issue a receipt from the JDE system detailing the amounts paid; and
- The receipt and form will be delivered to the relevant Company Secretary by the purchaser in relation to the transaction in order to enable the transfer of the shares. The LTT Law places responsibility on the Company Secretary to only register the transfer of shares on receiving evidence that the relevant LTT has been paid.
At some point in future conveyancing lawyers may seek LTT information on behalf of clients in order to confirm LTT has been paid in accordance with the Law (in the same way that searches are carried out at the Judicial Greffe in respect of freehold transactions).
The above processes would mean Treasury Cashiers (and potentially other Treasury staff), the Company Secretary and possibly conveyancing lawyers would have access to the purchasers’:-
- Name;
- Current residential address;
- Amounts paid in consideration for the shares;
- Tax paid.
The proposed process and forms in Appendix A have been approved by the Data Protection Registrar.
- Items to be prescribed by Order
3a. LTT Statement
Article 4(1) requires the occupier in relation to the transaction to deliver to the Comptroller of Income Tax, in respect of the transaction –
- a statement containing the prescribed information and accompanied by such documents, or copies of documents, as may be prescribed.
It is proposed that this shall take the format of either of the forms in Appendix A.
3b. LTT Receipt
Article 9 Issue of LTT receipt states:
(3) An LTT receipt shall contain the prescribed particulars to be in the prescribed form.
It is proposed that this shall take the form of an official receipt from the States Treasury detailing the amount recovered together with one of the forms attached as Appendix A.
3c. Replacement Receipt Fee
Article 20 Issue of replacement LTT receipt states:
- The Comptroller shall issue a replacement LTT receipt, upon an application made under paragraph (1) and upon payment of the prescribed fee, if he or she is satisfied that the original receipt or certificate is lost, destroyed or damaged.
It is proposed that this shall be a fee of £50.
4. Reason for Decision
Under Article 21(a) of the draft Taxation (Land Transactions) (Jersey) Law 200- the Minister for Treasury and Resources may, by Order, prescribe any matters that shall or may be prescribed under this Law.
The processes to administer and collect LTT need to be approved by the Minister in order that Data Protection implications are clearly defined
5. Recommendation
That the Minister for Treasury and Resources approves:
- the processes for collection of LTT detailed in section 2 above and
- the items to be prescribed by Order detailed in section 3 above.
States Treasury Nick Collins, Finance Manager Decision Support
16 April, 2009 for decision 30 April 2009