BooksterScottish Visitor Levy Reporting The Local Taxes screen now gives each local authority its own section, with a year-tabbed report broken down by the authority's own filing period, so Scottish councils show by quarter. You can see how much levy is being held for unpaid quarters, click through from any figure to the bookings behind it, and download Edinburgh's levy return in the format the council asks for. Bookster has added support for councils with confirmed Levy schemes: Edinburgh; Glasgow; Aberdeen; Stirling; and West Dunbartonshire. Calculation Choices Councils' guidance is not always clear on whether agency fees and channel commission count towards the accommodation charge, so each property can now choose between "Accommodation Only" and "Full Total" for Edinburgh. A property can also say whether its levy is remitted by the agency or by the owner, and only remitted properties count towards your return. Optional Add-ons Visitor levies are charged on the accommodation, not on the hamper, parking pass or extra linen a guest chose to add. Booking lines can now be marked as optional, guest-chosen extras (including Booking.com add-ons and channel pet charges) are marked automatically, and the cost breakdown shows them separately so they are left out of the levy. The breakdown now appears below the booking details, and you can toggle any line's optional flag directly from the itemisation. Owner Statements Finalise, Email and Pay Owners in Bulk The Owner Statements list now has three mass actions that run in sequence: finalise, email, then pay. Each one works on whatever the list is filtered to, shows a review of what can and cannot be done (and why), and then hands what succeeded straight on to the next step. "Pay owners" creates a bank payment file to upload to your online business banking, with a new Payments tab where you can download it again, mark it as transferred or cancel it. Owner invoices and statements are now addressed and emailed to the property's landlords, and agencies can choose whether commission is calculated inclusive or exclusive of the local tax. Taking Payments Opayo Pi and a Smoother Checkout Bookster now supports Opayo Pi, Opayo's current card payment API, on the booking screens, the new checkout and for subscription invoices, including refunds, repeat payments and telephone orders. Existing Opayo Direct accounts move onto Pi automatically once Pi keys are added. 3D Secure checks now open in a neat popup over the page rather than taking over the screen, and Stripe payments are confirmed the moment Stripe tells us, rather than waiting for the guest's browser to return. Properties with a working Stripe or Opayo Pi gateway now go to the new checkout by default. Minor Updates and Bug Fixes DAC7 / Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms The report now uses the landlord and property details as they were when each month was finalised, so a property sold mid-year reports to the right owner for each month. The report is tabbed by year, can preview the year in progress, and now lives as a tab under Bookings, with a checklist that helps you correct finalised details. Channel: Channel invoices have moved to a tab under Bookings, and the invoice state filter now works correctly. Booking Screens / Checkout Guests can no longer book two linked units that share the same space in one basket. The step bar now leads with "Find a Property", taking guests back to the search they came from, and the header logo is larger. Multi Unit Multi-unit bookings now carry the lead guest's email address on the parent booking. Add Ons Percentage-based extras now accept smaller values. Airbnb Cancellation policies are now sent to Airbnb in its updated format. Taking Payments PayPal payment notifications are no longer blocked on their way back to Bookster A telephone number is no longer required from guests paying through Opayo Bookster now supports the East Caribbean Dollar Bookster Websites The gallery slideshow now works on Bootstrap 5 websites.

October 2026

Written by Robin Morris

Get ready for Scotland's visitor levies and pay your owners in bulk

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September's release is shaped by Scotland's new visitor levies.

Bookster now reports local taxes by council and quarter, produces Edinburgh's levy return, and keeps the optional Add Ons out of the levy calculation.

Owner Statements can now be finalised, emailed and paid many at a time, DAC7 reporting remembers who owned each property month by month.

Scottish Visitor Levy Reporting

The Local Taxes screen now gives each local authority its own section, with a year-tabbed report broken down by the authority's own filing period, so Scottish councils show by quarter. You can see how much levy is being held for unpaid quarters, click through from any figure to the bookings behind it, and download Edinburgh's levy return in the format the council asks for.

Bookster has added support for councils with confirmed Levy schemes:

  • Edinburgh;
  • Glasgow;
  • Aberdeen;
  • Stirling; and
  • West Dunbartonshire.

Calculation Choices

Councils' guidance is not always clear on whether agency fees and channel commission count towards the accommodation charge, so each property can now choose between "Accommodation Only" and "Full Total" for Edinburgh. A property can also say whether its levy is remitted by the agency or by the owner, and only remitted properties count towards your return.

Optional Add-ons

Visitor levies are charged on the accommodation, not on the hamper, parking pass or extra linen a guest chose to add. Booking lines can now be marked as optional, guest-chosen extras (including Booking.com add-ons and channel pet charges) are marked automatically, and the cost breakdown shows them separately so they are left out of the levy.

The breakdown now appears below the booking details, and you can toggle any line's optional flag directly from the itemisation.

Owner Statements

Finalise, Email and Pay Owners in Bulk

The Owner Statements list now has three mass actions that run in sequence: finalise, email, then pay. Each one works on whatever the list is filtered to, shows a review of what can and cannot be done (and why), and then hands what succeeded straight on to the next step.

"Pay owners" creates a bank payment file to upload to your online business banking, with a new Payments tab where you can download it again, mark it as transferred or cancel it. 

Owner invoices and statements are now addressed and emailed to the property's landlords, and agencies can choose whether commission is calculated inclusive or exclusive of the local tax.

Taking Payments

Opayo Pi and a Smoother Checkout

Bookster now supports Opayo Pi, Opayo's current card payment API, on the booking screens, the new checkout and for subscription invoices, including refunds, repeat payments and telephone orders.

Existing Opayo Direct accounts move onto Pi automatically once Pi keys are added. 3D Secure checks now open in a neat popup over the page rather than taking over the screen, and Stripe payments are confirmed the moment Stripe tells us, rather than waiting for the guest's browser to return. Properties with a working Stripe or Opayo Pi gateway now go to the new checkout by default.

Minor Updates and Bug Fixes

DAC7 / Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms

  • The report now uses the landlord and property details as they were when each month was finalised, so a property sold mid-year reports to the right owner for each month.
  • The report is tabbed by year, can preview the year in progress, and now lives as a tab under Bookings, with a checklist that helps you correct finalised details.

Channel: Channel invoices have moved to a tab under Bookings, and the invoice state filter now works correctly.

Booking Screens / Checkout

  • Guests can no longer book two linked units that share the same space in one basket.
  • The step bar now leads with "Find a Property", taking guests back to the search they came from, and the header logo is larger.

Multi Unit

Multi-unit bookings now carry the lead guest's email address on the parent booking.

Add Ons

Percentage-based extras now accept smaller values.

Airbnb

Cancellation policies are now sent to Airbnb in its updated format.

Taking Payments

  • PayPal payment notifications are no longer blocked on their way back to Bookster
  • A telephone number is no longer required from guests paying through Opayo
  • Bookster now supports the East Caribbean Dollar

Bookster Websites

The gallery slideshow now works on Bootstrap 5 websites.