Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order is the only commencement order made by the Welsh Ministers under the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025 (asc 5) (“the Act”).

The Act makes provision requiring the Welsh Revenue Authority (“WRA”) to establish and maintain a register of visitor accommodation providers in Wales, to grant principal councils the power to introduce a visitor levy on overnight stays in visitor accommodation in their areas, for WRA to collect and manage the levy on behalf of principal councils, and to make miscellaneous amendments to the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 6) (“TCMA 2016”).

Section 67(1) of the Act brought the following parts of the Act into force on 19 September 2025, which was the day after the Act received Royal Assent—

(a)

Part 1 (overview of the Act),

(b)

Part 3 (visitor levy) (including Part 2 of Schedule 2), and

(c)

Part 4 (miscellaneous and general provision), save for Chapter 1 of Part 4 as it applies in relation to the register of visitor accommodation providers under Part 2.

This Order brings all remaining provisions of the Act into force and brings Chapter 1 of Part 4 fully into force.

Article 2 of this Order commences certain provisions of the Act on 1 October 2026. These provisions—

(a)

require WRA to establish and maintain a register of visitor accommodation providers and set out the information to be contained in a visitor accommodation provider’s entry in the register,

(b)

impose a duty on visitor accommodation providers to be registered, to provide WRA with notice of any change to or inaccuracy in their entry in the register and to apply to WRA for removal from the register when they no longer provide or offer to provide visitor accommodation,

(c)

specify the requirements for an application to be registered,

(d)

provide WRA with powers to register persons where no application has been made to WRA, change the register where no notice has been given to WRA, require information and remove a person from the register where no application for removal has been made,

(e)

contain powers for the Welsh Ministers to make subordinate legislation about the register and registration requirements,

(f)

introduce Part 1 of Schedule 2 which makes amendments to the TCMA 2016, and to other Acts, relating to Part 2 of the Act,

(g)

make amendments to the TCMA 2016 so that the reviews and appeals regime in that Act applies to decisions relating to the register of visitor accommodation providers under Part 2 of the Act,

(h)

establish how registration applies where the visitor accommodation provider is a partnership or unincorporated body, and

(i)

set out where certain duties and liabilities lie in a number of special cases as they apply in relation to the register under Part 2 of the Act.

Article 3 of this Order commences certain provisions of the Act on 1 April 2027. These provisions introduce a penalty regime that applies where a visitor accommodation provider fails to register, notify WRA of changes and inaccuracies, comply with a notice to provide certain information or apply for removal from the register.