Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill: business and regulatory impact assessment

Section 4: Additional implementation considerations

15. Enforcement/compliance

Avoiding the additional administrative cost that the UK Government’s Levy will incur due to administration and collection being undertaken by Local Government, the Bill provides that Revenue Scotland is to be responsible for the collection and management of the SBSL. Revenue Scotland is the tax authority responsible for the administration and collection of Scotland’s two devolved taxes - Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) and will be the tax authority for the upcoming Scottish Aggregates Tax (SAT). LBTT, SLfT and SAT are self-assessed taxes, where the responsibility falls to the taxpayer to complete and submit an accurate return, where required, and pay any tax due.

Designating Revenue Scotland as the tax authority supports a standardised process for devolved taxes across Scotland, providing certainty and convenience to businesses and other stakeholders in the building standards process. As above, it also means that there will be no significant cost on Local Government, nor will it place any additional burdens on local authorities.

Designating Revenue Scotland as the tax authority also allows for the utilisation of Revenue Scotland’s experience in collecting and administering self-assessed taxes. Revenue Scotland are also able to use the existing administrative framework for collecting devolved taxes - the Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act 2014 - to underpin the collection of a SBSL.

In addition, the Scottish Tax Tribunals are in place to hear appeals against appealable decisions made by Revenue Scotland related to the fully devolved taxes.

However, there are two areas that may incur a small additional cost: changes to building standards forms, and the potential for a data link between local authority building standards services (and other bodies who hold building standards data) and Revenue Scotland. The Bill does not require these changes to be made; doing so may, however, provide greater efficiency in the administration of the SBSL.

The public consultation on a SBSL sought views on a number of enforcement and compliance areas, including questions on the following:

• the appropriateness of Revenue Scotland as the tax authority who collects and administers the tax
• the schedule of returns for a SBSL
• the appropriateness of using Revenue Scotland’s existing investigatory and enforcement powers in relation to a SBSL
• the appropriateness of using existing arrangements in place for tax avoidance purposes
• views on a proposed dispute resolution and appeals process for a SBSL.

Responses to these areas of enforcement and compliance are outlined in the Consultation Analysis Report.^[29]

16. UK, EU and International Regulatory Alignment and Obligations

Internal Market/ Intra-UK Trade

The UK and Scottish governments ran a joint consultation on devolving powers for a SBSL^[30]. The purpose and content of this consultation can be found in Section 1: Background, aims and obligations above.

The UK Government concluded that the consultation produced no evidence that the power to introduce a Building Safety Levy in Scotland devolving the power would not impose a disproportionate negative impact on UK macroeconomic policy or impede the single UK market in house building.

Consideration has been given to the development of the UK Government’s England-only levy. An initial public consultation was undertaken by the UK Government from 15 July to 21 October 2021. In November 2022, the UK Government issued a second consultation seeking views on the delivery of the England-only levy. An analysis of this consultation was published in January 2024.^[31] A further technical consultation was carried out by the UK Government in January 2024. Since the publication of the SBSL partial BRIA, an analysis of responses to the UK Government’s technical consultation was published on 24 March 2025.^[32]

Although the differences in building control regimes mean that the English and Scottish levies will not be comparable, the policy aim for both remains the same. The Scottish Government has therefore taken into account the feedback provided on both UK consultations, and on the joint UK and Scottish Government consultation on the devolution of powers for a SBSL.

International Trade Implications

The Scottish Government does not consider that the introduction of a SBSL will have implications on international trade. We will continue to consider any potential impacts from introducing a SBSL on international trade and obligations at future review points as outlined in the Bill.

EU Alignment consideration

We do not consider there to be any EU alignment implications associated with the Bill.

17. Legal Aid

We do not consider there to be any legal aid implications associated with the Bill.

18. Digital impact

The Scottish Government will consider a digital first approach to the design of the tax, in collaboration with Revenue Scotland and industry stakeholders.

19. Business forms

It is anticipated that businesses liable to pay the levy will be required to register for the tax and submit a tax return to Revenue Scotland which details their tax calculation and liability. The Scottish Government will work with Revenue Scotland to consider how best to test any registration and tax return forms with relevant stakeholders, ahead of introduction.