Bad news for legal software developers looking to integrate the new Revenue Scotland Land and Buildings Transaction Tax returns (LBTT – which replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) North of the Border on 1st April this year) within their conveyancing case management systems, as Revenue Scotland has just notified them that they lack the resources to help.
In an email dated 23rd April, Revenue Scotland said…
Good afternoon,
Revenue Scotland has been receiving requests for information from commercial software providers (or third party vendors) regarding technical advice on linking to our online systems and we would like to apologise for the delay in responding to some of these. We have been considering what level of support we can provide to the commercial software provider community and have updated the guidance on our website to set out our position. Please follow these links:
Commercial Software Providers https://www.revenue.scot/help/third-party-vendors
FAQs https://www.revenue.scot/help/third-party-vendors/faqs
This approach has been taken as we have no in-house developer facility to evaluate code submissions or provide advice on how to develop applications against our online services. (Our emphasis)
If you follow the third-party-vendors link, this goes on to say…
Revenue Scotland will not:
• Endorse, accredit or approve any Commercial Software Providers
• Review, correct or assess any submissions provided by Commercial Software Providers
• Provide a dedicated phone line for support. The Revenue Scotland support desk is for transaction specific queries and will not provide technical support for Commercial Software Providers
• Provide a dedicated e-mail facility for queries. However, credentials for test services will be provided by email to requests sent to [email protected]
• Provide pre-release information to Commercial Software Providers for any future changes. All information will be provided in line with the release plans of Revenue Scotland changes.