Scotland has made a further technical adjustment to its visitor levy framework, with the Visitor Levy (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 made on 23 September 2026 and in force from 24 September 2026. The instrument amends the Visitor Levy (Local Authority Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 and the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Local Taxation Chamber rules, and was made under sections 45(1) and 78(1) of the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 after approval by the Scottish Parliament. (legislation.gov.uk) The changes sit within a regime that has only recently been built out. The underlying local authority assessment regulations were themselves made in February 2026 and came into force on 1 April 2026, so this latest instrument is best read as an early correction to enforcement and procedure rather than a change of policy direction. (legislation.gov.uk)
The most important amendment concerns what happens after a council has stepped in to assess visitor levy itself. Under the February 2026 rules, an assessment did not prevent the imposition of penalties under sections 47 to 50 or section 52 of the 2024 Act. The new regulation 8 replaces that approach for the continued-failure penalties in sections 48, 49 and 50. Once a local authority has issued its notice of outcome of assessment, it may not impose any further penalties under those three sections. (legislation.gov.uk) That is not a general amnesty. The explanatory note states that any penalties already determined as due before the assessment notice was issued remain payable. In practical terms, the amendment fixes a clearer cut-off point for the additional three-month, six-month and twelve-month failure-to-return penalties once the authority has moved from waiting for a return to issuing its own assessment. (legislation.gov.uk)
The Regulations also reset how the failure-to-pay penalty works where the amount due comes from a council assessment rather than a filed return. Regulation 7 of the existing assessment regulations requires payment within 30 days of receipt of the notice, unless a longer period is agreed with the local authority. The new regulation 8 then applies section 52 of the 2024 Act on the footing that the relevant failure is non-payment of the assessed amount by that regulation 7 deadline. (legislation.gov.uk) According to the explanatory note, the penalty becomes payable if payment is still outstanding 14 days after the authority issues a reminder. That matters because it links the penalty clock directly to the assessment notice and the reminder process, which should reduce uncertainty in cases where the council, not the operator, has fixed the amount due. (legislation.gov.uk)
A new regulation 8A makes a similar change for interest. Where no return has been made by the deadline in section 26(2)(b) of the 2024 Act, or where a return contains a careless or deliberate miscalculation and the local authority makes an assessment under regulation 3, section 66 is modified so that interest runs from the day after the assessed levy should have been paid under regulation 7. (legislation.gov.uk) For liable persons, the plain-English position is straightforward: once the payment date in the assessment notice passes, interest starts from the following day. That closes off argument about whether the ordinary statutory interest rule or the assessment-specific timetable applies in cases where the authority has had to reconstruct the liability itself. (legislation.gov.uk)
Some amendments are narrower but still worth noting for administration and appeals. In regulation 5 of the assessment rules, 'timescale' is replaced with 'deadline', and a small wording change removes 'issued' from regulation 5(3). The electronic communication provision in regulation 9(a) also now refers to 'the recipient' rather than 'the person'. (legislation.gov.uk) The same instrument updates the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Local Taxation Chamber rules. It removes a separate definition of 'the 2024 Act' from the interpretation rule and replaces shorthand references with the full title, the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024, in the respondent definition and in appeal-related rules. The explanatory note describes those changes as clarification and consistency measures. (legislation.gov.uk)
For local authorities, the operational point is that assessment notices now sit more clearly at the centre of enforcement. The notice triggers the payment deadline, marks the point after which further section 48 to 50 penalties cannot be added, and provides the reference point for both section 52 payment penalties and interest under the new regulation 8A. (legislation.gov.uk) For accommodation providers and other liable persons, the message is narrower but important. A council assessment may stop the later rolling return penalties, but it does not wipe out penalties already set, and unpaid assessed levy can still move quickly into reminder, penalty and interest stages. The Regulations have applied since 24 September 2026. (legislation.gov.uk)