Scotland and Wales's tourist tax works differently in every council — different rates, night caps, cut-off dates, and exemptions. Stop calculating it by hand. Import your bookings and get a correct, ready-to-file return pack.
No card required · Free for one property · Scotland and Wales
Edinburgh Visitor Levy
Q4 2026 · 1 Oct – 31 Dec 2026
No sign-up required. Select a council, enter the stay dates and amount, and get the correct levy breakdown — including any night cap, cut-off exemption, and VAT.
Estimated levy
£30.00
Upload a CSV or Excel export from Airbnb, Booking.com, or VRBO. Column mapping is saved for next time, so subsequent imports take seconds.
The correct rate, night cap, booking cut-off, deductions, and VAT are applied to every booking for your council and date range. Every decision is explained step by step.
A CSV and PDF laid out to match your council's return form. Ready to sign and submit. Locked once filed; amendments are tracked in the audit log.
The visitor levy is new, and the rules are more detailed than most guides explain. These are the four places where manual calculations tend to fail.
Edinburgh charges the levy on a maximum of 5 consecutive nights. A 7-night stay is charged as 5 nights. Most spreadsheets miss this and overcharge guests — creating a refund liability.
Bookings made and fully paid before 1 October 2025 are exempt from Edinburgh's levy, regardless of the stay date. Without tracking payment dates, you may file the wrong figures.
Booking.com remits Edinburgh's levy directly to the council. If you also include those bookings in your return, you double-pay. Levy Desk flags every Booking.com booking and prompts you to confirm.
VAT-registered hosts must charge 20% VAT on the levy itself — not on the accommodation price. This is a separate line on the return. Edinburgh also allows a 2% host retention on top.
Levy Desk covers every council that has confirmed or live visitor levy legislation. Start dates marked with an asterisk (*) are unverified pending official confirmation.
| Council | Country | Levy rate | Night cap | Live from | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | Scotland | 5% of gross | 5 nights | 24 Jul 2026* | Live |
| Glasgow | Scotland | 5% of gross | None | 1 Jan 2027* | Confirmed |
| Aberdeen | Scotland | 7% of gross | None | 1 Apr 2027* | Confirmed |
| Stirling | Scotland | 3% of gross | 7 nights | 1 Jun 2027* | Confirmed |
| West Dunbartonshire | Scotland | 5% of gross | None | 1 Jul 2027* | Confirmed |
| Cardiff | Wales | £1.30/person/night | 31 nights | 1 Apr 2027* | Confirmed |
* Exact start date unverified. Levy Desk uses a conservative default and flags affected bookings for host confirmation.
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Owner
£8
unit / month
Agent
from £99
/ month
B&B / Hotel
£25
property / month
No. Bookings that were both made and fully paid before 1 October 2025 are exempt, regardless of the stay date. Levy Desk applies this rule automatically to every booking you import.
Yes. Even where Airbnb collects and remits the levy on your behalf, you are legally required to file a return — including a nil return for quarters with no bookings. Levy Desk flags Booking.com and Airbnb bookings separately and can generate nil returns in one click.
Edinburgh charges the levy on a maximum of 5 consecutive nights per stay, regardless of how long the booking is. A 10-night stay is charged as 5 nights. Levy Desk applies the cap and shows the full working so you can explain it to a guest or council auditor.
Cardiff's Welsh Visitor Accommodation Levy is charged per person per night: £1.30 for most accommodation types, or £0.75 per adult for hostels and campsites. Under-18s are charged nothing. Stays of 32 nights or more are exempt entirely.
Only if your business is VAT-registered. If it is, you charge 20% VAT on the levy amount itself and remit both to the council. Levy Desk calculates and breaks this out separately in the return pack.
Edinburgh uses quarterly calendar returns. Q3 2026 (1 July – 30 September) was due by 31 October 2026. Q4 2026 (1 October – 31 December) is due by 31 January 2027. Levy Desk shows the next deadline on your dashboard and sends reminders.
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