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Scotland’s visitor levy: rates, start dates and returns for every council

Sergej Sitki · founder of ReceptionGO and host
Published 19 October 2026 · 6 min read

General information, not legal or tax advice. Check your own case with your local council, HMRC or the relevant revenue authority, or an accountant.

Scottish councils can now charge a visitor levy on paid overnight stays. Edinburgh’s 5% levy has applied since 24 July 2026 on the first five nights. Glasgow (5%) starts on 25 January 2027, Aberdeen (7%) on 1 April 2027, West Dunbartonshire (5%) on 1 July 2027 and Stirling (3%) on 14 June 2027. The accommodation provider collects it and files returns.

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Scotland’s visitor levy went from a debate to a line on guests’ bills in July 2026, when Edinburgh became the first UK city to charge one. Four more councils have approved schemes and four are consulting. For hosts, guest houses and hotels the work is the same everywhere: price it in, collect it, file a return, keep records. The rates, caps and dates are not.

Approved schemes, side by side

Consulting, no decision yet (autumn 2026): Dundee, Falkirk, Highland and Perth & Kinross. Highland’s draft uses tiered fixed amounts rather than a percentage — a 2026 amendment to the Act lets councils charge a fixed amount per room per night instead.

What the levy is charged on

For a percentage scheme, the base is the price of the accommodation, excluding VAT. Things that are not accommodation — breakfast sold separately, parking, tours, a bottle of wine — are outside it. Where you sell a package (dinner, bed and breakfast), you need a reasonable split between the room and the rest.

Worked example, Edinburgh

A guest house that is VAT-registered sells 7 nights at £150 a night including VAT.

• Price excluding VAT: £150 ÷ 1.2 = £125 a night.
• Nights charged: the first 5.
• Levy: 5 × £125 × 5% = £31.25.

A host who is not VAT-registered charges the levy on the full nightly price: 5 × £150 × 5% = £37.50.

Who pays and who collects

The legal duty sits with the accommodation provider — the hotel, the guest house, the host. Platforms are not automatically responsible. A distribution partner can collect and pay the levy directly only where it has an agreement with the council; otherwise you collect it from the guest, or pay it out of your own pocket.

In practice:

• Direct bookings: add the levy to the price or show it as a line.
• OTA bookings: check whether the platform shows and collects it in your area. If not, you need to collect it at check-in or build it into your rate.
• Prices shown to consumers: since April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act bans “drip pricing” — mandatory charges must be in the headline price. Showing a lower price and adding the levy at the last step is risky.

Exemptions

The Act sets national exemptions and lets councils add their own. Nationally:

• Guests who receive certain disability benefits, and their carers, can claim the levy back (they pay at the time and claim a refund from the council).
• People placed in temporary accommodation by a council (for example homeless households).
• Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Local examples: Stirling exempts its own residents (identified from the council tax register) and people receiving carer’s allowance, and refunds nights beyond the seventh; Edinburgh caps the charge at five nights so long stays are not penalised.

Returns, records and deadlines

1. Register on the national platform, visitorlevy.scot.
2. Record every stay: dates, nights, accommodation price, levy charged and any exemption.
3. File the return for each period. Edinburgh uses quarterly returns; the first payments fell due in October 2026.
4. Pay the levy collected, less any share your council lets you keep.
5. Keep the records — councils can inspect them and charge penalties for late or wrong returns.

Scotland, Wales, England

Wales has its own levy — a fixed amount per person per night rather than a percentage — starting with Cardiff in April 2027; see the Welsh register and visitor levy. England has no visitor levy power for councils, although Manchester and Liverpool run voluntary hotel charges through business improvement districts. And the licence every Scottish short-term let needs is in our Scottish licensing guide.