Commentary on Sections Section 2
25.Section 2 provides that the amendments made by the Act (principally the new calculation rules) apply to transactions where the effective date (in most cases the date of completion) is on or after 4 December 2014.
26.The section provides that the purchaser may elect that in certain circumstances the new calculation rules do not apply. The first of these is where contracts were exchanged before 4 December 2014 and the contract was “substantially performed” (that is, the purchaser occupied the property or paid over the whole, or substantially the whole, of the consideration) before that date. The purpose of this is to protect a subsequent transaction on completion of the contract, on which further tax may be due.
27.The election may also be made in other cases where contracts were exchanged before 4 December 2014 and the contract is completed on or after that date, provided that there is no event on or after that date, of a kind listed at subsection (5), which results in the effect of the contract on completion being different from the effect of the contract when first entered into.
28.An election must be made in a land transaction return or an amendment to such a return and must meet any requirements specified by the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.