Edinburgh visitor levy (tourist tax) calculator

Edinburgh’s levy in three numbers

5%: of the accommodation price before VAT, cleaning included
5 nights: the most any one booking is levied
2%: of the levy you keep for collecting it

Seven nights booked. Five are levied.

Night 1£100Levied
Night 2£100Levied
Night 3£100Levied
Night 4£100Levied
Night 5£100Levied
Night 6£100Not levied
Night 7£100Not levied

The £70 cleaning fee is charged once per stay, so all of it counts. Edinburgh’s guidance: a fee “charged regardless of the length of the stay” is likely levied in full. The levy is £28.50.

Upload your Airbnb or Booking.com export. Get each booking’s levy, your return figures and a list of what to fix.

The To do list: a booking where £10 more levy was collected than is owed, a cancelled stay with levy still collected, and a return that was due on 30 October 2026, each with a button to fix it. — The To do list in Pro Plus, shown with sample bookings.

Try the free booking check: it reads your export on your device, and nothing is saved.

Founding member

You run

Short letsB&B or hotelHostelAgent

ProPro Plus Recommended

Also finds what’s wrong before you file, with how to fix it.

YearlyMonthly

How many properties

£89 a year, per property

Two months free compared with monthly.

Short lets, Pro: £49.00 a year or £5.00 a month, per property

Short lets, Pro Plus: £89.00 a year or £9.00 a month, per property

B&B or hotel, Pro: £12.00 a year or £1.25 a month, per room

B&B or hotel, Pro Plus: £22.00 a year or £2.25 a month, per room

Hostel, Pro: £3.00 a year or £0.30 a month, per bed

Hostel, Pro Plus: £5.50 a year or £0.55 a month, per bed

Agent, Pro Agency: £69.00 a year or £7.00 a month, per managed unit

Everything in Pro
Problems found, with how to fix each
Collected vs owed, VAT and 70-night checks
Read-only access for your accountant

Full refund if you cancel within 24 hours
Cancel in two clicks from your account
Records you saved stay readable if you stop paying

Sign in first, then pay securely with Stripe.

What each plan includes

Plans compared. Prices per property; Pro Agency has every Pro Plus feature, priced per managed unit.
Feature	Free£0	Profrom £5 a month	Pro PlusRecommendedfrom £9 a month
Work it out
Levy calculator, every councilWork out any booking	✓	✓	✓
Free booking checkUpload a CSV, see the total and problems found. Nothing is saved	✓	✓	✓
Deadline remindersFor one property	✓	✓	✓
Keep records
Saved bookings and quartersUpload once; figures kept as worked out, even if rules change	Not included	✓	✓
Council return figuresMonth by month, as visitorlevy.scot asks for them	Not included	✓	✓
Five years of recordsReadable even after you stop paying	Not included	✓	✓
Catch problems
Problems listShortfalls, refunds due, estimated long stays, early bookings to confirm, returns due	Not included	Not included	✓
Checks across all quartersCollected vs owed, VAT threshold, the 70-night test	Not included	Not included	✓
Work with others
Accountant accessRead-only, ended at any time	Not included	Not included	✓
Accounting exportFor Making Tax Digital software	Not included	Not included	✓
	Try the free check	Choose Pro	Choose Pro Plus

Compare every plan, with prices for rooms, beds and agents

Prices per property. B&Bs, hotels and hostels can pay per room or bed instead. Letting agents: Pro Agency has everything in Pro Plus, at £7 a month per managed unit.

Rules quoted from each council’s guidanceEach rule shows the words and the page it comes from.
Your file is read on your deviceOnly the dates and amounts the levy needs are saved. No guest names or phone numbers.
Figures that don’t change behind your backA rule change marks old bookings for you to review; it never rewrites a filed return.

What hosts ask

Is this the tourist tax?

Yes. Visitor levy is the official name in the law and on council forms. Most people call it the tourist tax.

What is levied?

The nightly price and accommodation fees such as cleaning. Meals, drinks, parking, laundry and transport are not, nor is a fee guests could genuinely decline.

A guest is staying a week.

Only the first five nights count, at their actual prices. A cleaning fee charged once per stay counts in full.

Does the platform’s fee count?

A booking fee the guest pays the platform is part of the levy base, as in the council’s example. Commission you pay the platform is not. Take advice if unsure.

Does Airbnb pay it for me?

No. Airbnb can collect the levy from guests, but you file the return and pay the council.

I am VAT-registered.

Work the levy on the price before VAT, then add VAT to the levy as well.

A guest cancelled.

No levy is due if the guest never arrived: refund any levy you took. A refund after they have stayed doesn’t cancel it.

Some guests are exempt.

Charge every guest. Exempt guests claim their refund from the council with their benefit letter and your invoice.

When do I file?

Within 30 days of the quarter ending, at visitorlevy.scot, and pay 14 days after that. A stay that crosses a quarter end goes in the quarter it checked out.

Edinburgh visitor levy calculator