About Scottish Aggregates Tax statistics
Background to Scottish Aggregates Tax
Scottish Aggregates Tax (SAT) came in to effect on 1 April 2026 and applies to aggregate commercially exploited in Scotland. It is a replacement for UK Aggregates Levy which ceased to apply in Scotland on the same date. SAT is administered by Revenue Scotland.
Anyone who commercially exploits taxable aggregate, or intends to commercially exploit taxable aggregate in Scotland, must register with Revenue Scotland for the Scottish Aggregates Tax. This includes businesses in England, Wales or Northern Ireland who supply aggregate in Scotland. The list of registered parties is published by Revenue Scotland on the Scottish Aggregates Tax Register page of our website.
Aggregate is subjected to exploitation if:
- It is removed from its site of origin, or a site registered under the same name as the site of origin
- It becomes the subject of an agreement to supply it to any person,
- It is used for construction purposes, or
- It is mixed otherwise than in permitted circumstances, with any material or substance (other than water).
The current rate for SAT is £2.16 per tonne, which was set by the Scottish Government and approved by the Scottish Parliament.
For more information about SAT, please see the Scottish Aggregates Tax sections of our website.
What this publication covers
This publication series provides data on the tax declared payable, taxable tonnages, tax credits claimed, the number of operators and sites for which returns have been submitted, and the split of taxable tonnages by material, based on tax returns provided to Revenue Scotland.
The tax received is not included in this publication, but is monitored closely by Revenue Scotland and information on revenues collected and paid over to the Scottish Consolidated fund is included in Revenue Scotland's Annual Report and Financial Statements.
Data source
Data is drawn from Revenue Scotland's tax administration system, which holds a record of each version of a tax return submitted. The tax return includes information on:
- tax declared payable
- total tonnages per site
- exempt tonnages per site
- tax credits claimed per site
- tonnages by material per site
An all-time snapshot of each table is taken around three months after the end of each quarter. For example, the snapshot for Q1 statistics covering April–June is taken no earlier than 1 October. This allows for the inclusion of all returns which in any part relate to the April-June period, the last of which should be submitted by 30 September (these being returns covering June-August, allowing 30 days for submission after the end of the filing period).
Methodology
Taxpayers can choose to submit Scottish Aggregates Tax returns using one of four filing schedules:
- Quarterly, following the standard financial-year quarters: April to June, July to September, October to December and January to March.
- Quarterly, offset from the standard financial-year quarters by one month, with quarters covering May to July, August to October, November to January and February to April.
- Quarterly, offset from the standard financial quarters by two months, with quarters covering June to August, September to November, December to February and March to May.
- Monthly.
In this publication series, we report SAT taxable tonnage and tax revenue using standard financial quarters. Where a return period overlaps two standard financial quarters, the amounts reported are allocated equally across the months covered by the return and then assigned to the relevant quarters.
For example, for a return that covers May to July, we allocate two thirds of the reported tonnage and revenue from this return to the Q1 row of our tables as May and June fall within the standard financial-year Q1. The remaining one-third from this return is allocated to the Q2 row as July falls within the standard financial-year Q2.
This approach assumes that aggregate activity was evenly distributed across the period covered by the return. Quarterly figures may not, however, reflect the taxable activity which actually occurred within individual months. Given that operators have the flexibility to submit returns using any of the four filing schedules, we consider this approach to be the most appropriate method for representing activity within each standard financial-year quarter.
Revisions policy
Taxpayers may amend returns online up to 12 months after the filing date. Other changes may occur, for example as a result of an inquiry. To account for this, we make appropriate revisions to our published statistics. Where amendments have been made, changes are applied to the figures for the period to which the original return relates.
For published SAT statistics, values are initially provisional and finalised one year after they are first published. For example, statistics on tax revenue and taxable tonnage for Q1 2026/27 will be finalised in the Q1 2027/28 publication.
After 12 months, figures will no longer be revised and are considered final. Changes after this point are likely to be as a result of compliance activities and will not be reflected in the published statistics for statistical disclosure control purposes, to prevent information being gleaned about individual taxpayers.
Feedback
We are always interested to hear from our users about how our statistics are used, and how they can be improved. For enquiries about this publication please contact the Revenue Scotland Statistics & Management Information Team at statistics@revenue.scot.
Related publications
Note that different countries may have different tax rates which should be considered when comparing the statistics.
- Environmental Taxes Bulletin - Published by HM Revenue and Customs