Scottish Ministers have set the Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) rates for 2026/27, effective from 1 April 2026. The standard rate moves to £130.75 per tonne and the lower rate to £8.65. The instrument was made on 17 February and laid before the Scottish Parliament on 18 February for approval, giving businesses six weeks to update budgets and contracts. The Scottish Government confirmed the planned figures alongside the January Budget. (gov.scot)

The change keeps Scotland aligned with the UK-wide Landfill Tax, where HMRC has set identical rates from April. The lower rate rises by the same cash amount as the standard rate (£4.60 per tonne), a deliberate move to send a stronger price signal against landfilling inert materials. (gov.uk)

Compared with 2025/26, when SLfT stood at £126.15 (standard) and £4.05 (lower), the standard rate is up 3.65% while the lower rate jumps by roughly 114%. That arithmetic matters most for soil, stones and similar qualifying materials common on building sites. Revenue Scotland’s 2025 notice provides the baseline for those comparisons. (revenue.scot)

Who actually pays? SLfT is charged to landfill site operators in Scotland and is calculated by weight, but costs are typically passed through in gate fees to waste contractors and then to customers. Applying the lower rate requires robust evidence; without it, the standard rate applies. Expect heavier scrutiny of weighbridge tickets, load descriptions and coding. (revenue.scot)

For construction and groundworks, the lower-rate increase is the headline item. A civil contractor landfilling 2,000 tonnes of qualifying excavated material in Q2 would see the tax line rise from £8,100 to £17,300-a £9,200 hit on a single project, before haulage and site fees. Tender allowances for earthworks and remediation need revisiting immediately.

Facilities and retail operators that still send some active waste to landfill will see a smaller per‑tonne change but should expect contract resets from 1 April. An FM provider landfilling 120 tonnes of mixed residual waste a year would face around £552 in extra tax versus 2025/26, assuming no diversion to alternative treatments-modest in percentage terms, but material when multiplied across multi‑site portfolios.

Ministers are explicit that the structure is intended to deter landfill and maintain parity with neighbouring jurisdictions to prevent cross‑border waste displacement. For businesses operating near the border, identical rates in England and Northern Ireland remove any incentive to ship waste purely for tax reasons. (parliament.scot)

Two policy threads shape volumes as well as prices. Scotland’s ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste took effect on 31 December 2025, with SEPA operating a temporary regulatory position through to 31 December 2027. That transition keeps pressure on diversion, even as some residual streams still reach landfill. (fiscalcommission.scot)

A side note for CSR and community teams: the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund will close to new contributions from 1 April 2026, with a wind‑down period to March 2028 for existing monies. Operators and approved bodies should factor the change into 2026/27 planning. (revenue.scot)

What should finance leads do now? Lock in revised waste rates with contractors for loads received on or after 1 April; test earthworks and shop‑fit budgets using a £4.60‑per‑tonne uplift across all landfill scenarios; and tighten evidence chains for lower‑rate claims. For projects straddling March and April, specify how loads will be ticketed to avoid price disputes.

Looking ahead, Holyrood intends to commission research this year on potential SLfT reforms, including rate structures. For now, the near‑term revenue take is small-Scottish Fiscal Commission modelling puts SLfT at about £27m in 2026/27-but the operational signal for waste‑heavy sectors is clear: landfill will get steadily more expensive. (parliament.scot)