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Losing money to a scam can be extremely upsetting and frustrating, and when you thought you were on top of them all, another new scam hits law firms and their clients.

Both Revenue Scotland and the Law Society have flagged up a new series of communications being sent to members of the public and clients of Scottish solicitors. The letters suggest that the recipient may be entitled to a repayment of LBTT and some suggest that the solicitor who acted for them in a recent purchase has acted incorrectly, should be sued and that the claims company can help with that.

Some letters refer to the so called "granny flat relief" and some to SDLT - both of these terms are English terms and are not relevant for property purchases ib Scotland so alarm bells should ring as they would indicate that the sender is far from well versed in the area they claim to specialise. 

Please do not fall for these scams - if the claims company takes a 20-30% cut of an LBTT refund and the claim is later determined by Revenue Scotland to be invalid and so that the refund has to be repaid, individuals can find themselves unable to repay the full amount.

If you do receive such a letter to say that you are entitled to a repayment of LBTT, as always, it is likely to be too good to be true.  If you are unsure about anything please contact Macnabs directly or contact Revenue Scotland at LBTT@revenue.scot.