Key points
- £19.9 million in Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) was declared payable in Q1 2025/26 (April to June 2025). Total standard rate tonnage was 158,200 and total lower rate tonnage was 99,400.
- Total SLfT declared due in Q1 2025/26 was higher than in Q1 2024/25. This is inconsistent with the pattern in recent years for overall decreasing SLfT year to year. This is due to the standard rate tonnage being higher in Q1 2024/25, combined with the increase in standard rate SLfT per tonne.
- 24 operators provided returns for the latest quarter, covering 43 sites. Note that some sites also submit nil returns for some quarters as operators are liable to submit a return until they are de-registered.
Introduction
This publication is part of a quarterly series of Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) statistics, started in April 2015, which provides data on the total number of returns; total number of sites; total tax payable; total contributions to the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund; standard and lower rate waste tonnages, as reported to Revenue Scotland.
An official statistics publication for Scotland
These statistics are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
Revenue Scotland statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
Quarterly statistics
SLfT declared by quarter
SLfT was £19.9 million during Q1 2025/26, higher than Q1 2024/25 (£16.1m).
Figure 1: Column chart showing SLfT declared by quarter from 2015/16 to 2025/26.
Figure 1 shows a decreasing trend through time. An additional line shows the four quarter moving average for SLfT declared due. The total SLfT declared due in Q1 2025/26 was higher than Q4 2024/25. This is consistent with the pattern in most years, where total SLfT declared due is highest in Q1 or Q2 and lowest in Q3 or Q4. Total SLfT declared due in Q1 2025/26 was 24% higher than in Q1 2024/25. This is inconsistent with the pattern in recent years for overall decreasing SLfT year to year. This is due to the standard rate tonnage being higher in Q1 2024/25, combined with the increase in standard rate SLfT per tonne.
Tonnage by quarter
Standard rate tonnage in Q1 2025/26 was higher than last year while lower rate tonnage was lower.
Figure 2: Line chart showing standard and lower rate tonnages by quarter.
Standard rate tonnage in Q1 2025/26 (158,200 tonnes) was 2% higher than Q1 2024/25 (155,800 tonnes) and also higher than in Q4 2024/25 (141,300 tonnes). Lower rate tonnage in Q1 2025/26 was the lowest for any quarter to date and 38% lower than in Q1 2024/25.
Background to SLfT
Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) is a tax on the disposal or unauthorised disposal of waste to landfill and is charged by weight. SLfT is a devolved tax, replacing UK landfill tax in Scotland only from 1 April 2015.
We have published a document covering SLfT background information, data sources, methodology, quality, revisions policy and corrections has on our website: About SLfT statistics.
Further information about Scottish Landfill Tax and the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund on the Revenue Scotland is available on the Scottish Landfill Tax section of our website.
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Enquiries
For enquiries about this publication please contact:
statistics@revenue.scot