Tourist Taxes

A visitor levy guide for hosts

In the UK it's the accommodation provider, not the guest, who is legally responsible for a visitor levy. You charge it, keep the records, file returns and pay the council or tax authority. This is what that involves where levies are live or on the way.

Updated

A hotel reception desk: a brass service bell, a room key on a wooden fob and a printed bill with the visitor levy on its own line
Show the levy on its own line of the bill, so guests (and anyone claiming a refund) can see it.
Wales Register by 31 March 2027 Every place to stay in Wales must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority, whether or not its council charges. Cardiff hosts already add the levy to bookings for stays from April 2027. Edinburgh A return every quarter Register on the national platform, charge 5% on the first 5 nights, file your first return in October 2026 and keep 2% of what you collect.

Dates for hosts

  1. Cardiff bookings carry the levy

    Bookings made from today for stays from 1 April 2027.

  2. Wales register opens; Aberdeen and West Dunbartonshire bookings

    The national accommodation register opens (public beta). Aberdeen bookings from today for stays from 1 April 2027 carry its levy, and so do West Dunbartonshire bookings paid from today for stays from 1 July 2027.

  3. Edinburgh's first return is due

    Covering stays from 24 July to 30 September 2026, filed between 1 and 30 October; pay by 13 November.

  4. Stirling bookings carry the levy

    Bookings from today for stays from 14 June 2027.

  5. Glasgow's levy starts

    Bookings paid from 1 April 2026 are already in scope.

  6. Wales registration deadline

    Every property, even where the council doesn't charge.

  7. Cardiff and Aberdeen start charging

  8. Stirling's levy starts

  9. West Dunbartonshire's levy starts

What every host needs to do

Show it on the bill

Put the levy on its own line in quotes and bills, so guests can see it and anyone claiming a refund can prove what they paid.

Keep records

In Scotland, keep each booking's dates, price and levy for 5 years.

Check every channel

Make sure Booking.com, Airbnb and your own website add the levy, or that your price already includes it.

Know the refund rules

Point guests on disability benefits (Scotland) or carers (Wales) to the council's claim form.

In Scotland, a VAT-registered host charges VAT on the levy as well as on the room: at 20%, a £5 levy is £6 on the bill, while the levy itself is still worked out on the price before VAT. Glasgow City Council's user guide for accommodation providers (October 2025) and the City of Edinburgh Council's guide for accommodation providers (version 2.1, September 2026) both say so.

England has no visitor levy yet. What's planned there.