Edinburgh Visitor Levy

How the Edinburgh Visitor Levy is calculated and how to configure it in RMS for properties in the City of Edinburgh.

Overview

The Edinburgh Visitor Levy is a charge applied to overnight accommodation in the City of Edinburgh. It is calculated as 5% of the net accommodation charge and applies to the first 5 nights of a guest stay.

In RMS the levy is set up as a City Tax style tax record with two characteristics: it is capped at 5 nights, and it is allocated to every Category that can be booked at the property.

Configuring the levy as a tax record means RMS calculates and posts it automatically on every affected reservation, records it against its own General Ledger Account Code for reporting, and shows it as a separate line on guest accounts and Tax Invoices. Properties in the City of Edinburgh that do not complete this setup will not collect the levy through RMS.

Important! The setup described in this article is for demonstration purposes only. Properties should confirm their obligations with their accountant and with the City of Edinburgh Council before completing tax setup in RMS.

Please Note! RMS is highly configurable. Some Terminology, User Access & Permissions, Images, Labels, and Functions used in these articles may differ from your setup. CLICK HERE to find out more.

How the Edinburgh Visitor Levy works

Item	Detail
Rate	5% of the net accommodation charge.
Cap	The first 5 nights of a guest stay. Nights 6 onwards are not charged the levy.
Applies from	24 July 2026.
Scope	Properties located in the City of Edinburgh.
Set up in RMS as	A tax record at Setup > Accounting > Taxes, allocated to each Category.

How RMS calculates the levy

Most properties in the United Kingdom operate with tax inclusive tariffs, where the nightly rate quoted to the guest already contains tax. On a tax inclusive property the levy is extracted from the nightly tariff rather than added on top, so the amount the guest pays does not change. The levy appears as a separate line on the account.

Because the levy is extracted from a tax inclusive amount, the percentage entered in RMS is not 5.
The value entered is 4.761904 as a tax exclusive percentage, which returns a levy equal to 5% of the net charge.
On a nightly tariff of 105.00 the calculation is 105.00 x 4.761904% = 5.00, which is 5% of the net charge of 100.00.

Example

A 7 night stay on a tax inclusive nightly tariff of 105.00:

Nights	Nightly tariff	Levy applied
Nights 1 to 5	105.00	5.00 per night
Nights 6 and 7	105.00	0.00
Total for the stay	735.00	25.00

Prerequisites

A Security Profile with System Administrator access, which is required to edit tax setup.
A General Ledger Account Code for the levy, so the amounts collected can be reported separately from other tax.
A list of every Category at the property, because the levy must be allocated to each one.
Confirmation of the levy commencement date that applies to your property.

Tip! Complete this setup in the Training Database first to confirm the levy calculates as expected before making the change in your live database.

Configuration steps

Complete the steps in order. Each step depends on the one before it.

Step 1 - Create the levy tax

Step 1 creates the Edinburgh Visitor Levy tax record, caps the levy at 5 nights, assigns the tax to the property, and schedules it to start on the levy commencement date. Scheduling the amount means the levy only calculates on charges dated on or after that date.

In the side menu of RMS, go to Setup > Accounting > Taxes.

Select Add.
Enter a Description such as Edinburgh Visitor Levy.
Select the Standard as the Tax Class.
Select the G/L Acc Code.
Select Tax Only Applies To First and enter 5 in the Nights field.
Navigate to the Properties tab.
Select Add.
Select the required Property.
Select Allocate.
Select Apply/Exit.
Navigate to the Tax Types tab.
Select Per Person and leave the value at 0.00.
(This holds the tax at zero until the scheduled amount takes effect).
Select Save.
Navigate to the Schedule tab.
Select Add.
Set the Effective From date to 24 July 2026.
Enter a Tax Exclusive amount of 4.761904.
Select Save/Exit.
Select Save/Exit to complete the tax record.

Please Note! The Schedule applies the new amount to charges created in RMS for dates on or after the Effective From date. See Schedule a tax change for how tax schedules behave.

Step 2 - Allocate the levy to Categories

A tax only posts to an account when it is allocated to the Category being charged. Repeat this phase for every Category at the Edinburgh property, including any Category that is not currently sold.

In the side menu of RMS, go to Setup > Category/Area.

Select the Property, if using a multi-property database.
Select Edit on an existing Category.
Navigate to the Accounting tab.
Select the Edinburgh Visitor Levy in the Available list, then select Allocate.
Select the Method to Calculate for the levy.
Set the Calculation Order using the up and down arrows.
Select Save/Exit.
Repeat steps 3 to 8 for each remaining Category.

Important! If the levy is missed on one Category, reservations for that Category will not be charged the levy. Check every Category before the commencement date.

Step 3 - Hide zero value levy lines

Where the levy calculates to zero, for example on stay dates before the commencement date or on nights 6 onwards, RMS can display a 0.00 line on the guest account. Complete this step to suppress those lines.

In the side menu of RMS, go to Setup > Accounting > Accounting Options.

Select the Property, if using a multi-property database.
Navigate to the VAT tab.
Change the Tax Option to Tax Exclusive and select the option to hide taxes that calculate to 0.00.
Select Save (do not Exit).
Then set the Tax Option back to Tax Inclusive.
Select Save/Exit.

Verification

Create a test reservation for 7 nights arriving on or after the commencement date, then open the reservation account.

A separate levy line appears for each of the first 5 nights.
Each levy line is 5% of the net accommodation charge for that night.
No levy line appears for nights 6 and 7.
The total the guest pays is unchanged, because the levy is extracted from the tax inclusive tariff rather than added to it.

Repeat the test on one reservation per Category to confirm the allocation in Step 2 was completed everywhere.

Common setup issues

Issue: The levy does not appear on reservations that already existed before the setup was completed.
Fix: The tariff must be recreated for the levy line to post. Use Recalculate Future Rates from the commencement date.
Issue: A Tax Invoice was already generated on the account, so the levy cannot be added.
Fix: Cancel the invoice, recreate the rate, then generate a new invoice.
Issue: The levy is charged for the whole stay instead of the first 5 nights.
Fix: Check that Tax Only Applies To First is selected on the Details tab with 5 in the Nights field, rather than Tax Applies For Entire Stay.
Issue: The levy posts on some Categories but not others.
Fix: Repeat Step 2 on the Categories that are missing the allocation.
Issue: 0.00 levy lines appear on accounts for stays before the commencement date.
Fix: Complete Step 3.

Related to:

How can we help?