Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)

Section 4: Additional implementation considerations

Enforcement / compliance

The Bill does not change the discretionary nature of the provisions of the 2024 Act. As such, individual local authorities remain responsible for determining the details with regard to local guidance and enforcement arrangements. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with Local Government to support development of best practice between local authorities that choose to introduce a visitor levy.

UK, EU and International Regulatory Alignment and Obligations

Internal Market / Intra-UK Trade

There are no notable impacts in relation to the Internal Market and Intra-UK Trade.

As above, since the introduction of the 2024 Act, the Welsh Government has passed the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025 that introduces a fixed amount model that charges one rate for campsite pitches and shared rooms and another rate for all other types of visitor accommodation.^[8] The UK Government is also currently consulting on the design of a new Mayoral power to create visitor levies on overnight stays in England and their proposed approach is for a percentage-based model.^[9]

International Trade Implications

There are no notable impacts in relation to international trade.

EU Alignment consideration

There are no notable impacts in relation to EU alignment.

Legal Aid

There are no notable impacts in relation to Legal Aid.

Digital impact

The Bill does not create a new power to establish a visitor levy scheme. It provides authorities with additional flexibility and clarifies how the levy should be calculated where accommodation is sold by way of third-party transactions and not directly to the visitor. Local authorities that choose to implement a levy may need to work with booking platforms to automate levy collection, where this is being recovered from visitors and prevent avoidance. This may require system updates for platforms and accommodation providers to ensure accurate record keeping whether a direct or third-party booking.

Business forms

The Bill does not introduce any new forms for businesses to complete. However, given the discretionary nature of the power to introduce a visitor levy under the 2024 Act, local authorities may choose to introduce new forms for businesses to complete. It will be for local authorities to determine the impact of this and undertake appropriate testing as required. A new payment platform is being developed by the Improvement Service on behalf of Local Government for use by accommodation providers to support them to make their returns, calculate the levy due for each reporting period and to remit the levy to the local authority.

Declaration

I have read the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment and I am satisfied that it represents a fair and reasonable view of the expected costs, benefits and impact of the policy, and that these have been taken into account when making the policy decision. I am satisfied that business impact has been assessed with the support of businesses in Scotland.

I am also satisfied that officials have considered the impact on consumers as required by the Consumer Scotland Act 2020 in completion of the Consumer Duty section of this BRIA.

Signed:

Date: 09/01/2026

Minister's name: Ivan McKee

Minister's title: Minister for Public Finance

Scottish Government Contact point: Catriona MacKean, Deputy Director, Local Government