For Edinburgh's first return, gather stays checking out from 24 July to 30 September 2026. The council's September v2.1 timetable gives 1–30 October 2026 for submission and 13 November 2026 as the payment deadline. See the first-return dates and guidance.
1. Gather every booking source
Export reservations from all channels and your direct-booking system. For Edinburgh, select stays checking out in the quarter, including arrivals in the preceding quarter. Keep cancelled records and refund evidence available.
Keep originals unchanged. Work on copies with guest identifiers removed. Our free CSV and Excel template shows basic fields; retain additional evidence from the original exports.
2. Check property settings and availability
Confirm the council and VAT treatment. Compare booking counts with the source systems and investigate duplicates or missing reservations. Declare full, partial or no availability, with an explanation where relevant. A missing export is not evidence of zero activity.
3. Prepare monthly figures
The council requests monthly accommodation figures within the quarter. Separate eligible revenue, supported transitional exclusions and amounts beyond the night cap. Keep the working behind adjustments. A platform's net payout is not automatically the accommodation price.
For Edinburgh stays crossing the period end, report the whole stay in the check-out quarter. Keep cash collection and payout evidence separately from this reporting attribution.
4. Compare collection with liability
Keep VAT, gross levy and retention distinct. Compare reported collection with expected gross levy. Explain excess collections, shortfalls and missing amounts. See our three-booking example and Airbnb reconciliation guide.
A difference is not proof a refund, bank settlement or council payment happened. Check transaction evidence before recording those actions.
5. Review and submit
Resolve flagged bookings, review monthly figures and complete the availability declaration. The product's readiness panel identifies unfinished work; it cannot establish that an omitted source booking never existed.
Submit through visitorlevy.scot, follow its current instructions, and check payment separately. This software prepares records and does not submit or move money for you.
6. Keep the closing evidence
Save submission and payment references, final working files and adjustment reasons. Council guidance requires return records to be kept for five years. Lock the reviewed period so later changes are deliberate and traceable. For a portfolio, repeat the checks for each client and property scope. See the agent workflow.