Scotland’s Finance Secretary, Shona Robison delivered her third Budget statement to the Scottish parliament on 13 January 2026. This is the final Budget before the Holyrood elections due to take place in May.
There were no changes announced to the Scottish Income Tax rates. Following the UK Government’s extension of personal tax threshold freezes, the Higher, Advanced and Top rate thresholds will also remain unchanged until 2028–29. The Starter rate band is set to increase by 40.3% and the Basic rate band by 13.6% in 2026-27. This means that a larger portion of people's income will be taxed at the starter and basic rates helping to protect lower income households.
The Scottish rates and bands for 2026-27 are as follows:
|
Starter rate – 19% |
£12,571 – £16,537 |
|
Basic rate – 20% |
£16,538 – £29,526 |
|
Intermediate rate – 21% |
£29,527 – £43,662 |
|
Higher rate – 42% |
£43,663 – £75,000 |
|
Advanced rate – 45% |
£75,001 – £125,140 |
|
Top rate – 48% |
Above £125,140 |
The standard personal allowance remains frozen at £12,570.
No changes were announced to the residential and non-residential rates and bands for the land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT). The standard rate of Scottish landfill tax will rise to £130.75 per tonne and the lower rate to £8.65 per tonne from April 2026 maintaining alignment with the corresponding taxes in the rest of the UK. It was also announced that new council tax bands will be introduced from April 2028 for residential properties valued at £1m more. The Budget measures are subject to final approval by the Scottish parliament.
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