The Municipalities can increase the Transient Fee by 50%, the Ministry of Interior is giving the Ministry of Interior the opportunity to increase the Transient Fee by 50%, with the bill submitted to the Parliament entitled “Arrangements for land border stations, strengthening local government organizations and other provisions”.
By decision of the relevant municipal council, the bystander fee may be increased to 0.75% and may also be differentiated by residential areas. It should be emphasized that this is a percentage of turnover and not of earnings! In fact, the provision affects hotels and tourist accommodation of any functional type, as well as the rental amount for each category of short-term rentals when the stay lasts less than six months, i.e. Airbnb!
As Article 30 of the Bill states: “A visitor’s tax of 0.5% shall be imposed on the amount of the rental of a bed, rented room, apartment, space or place in an organized camping, as well as on the bed price for hotel businesses and tourist accommodation of any functional type, as well as on the rental amount for each category of short-term rentals. By decision of the municipal council concerned, the visitor’s tax may be increased to 0,75 % and may also be differentiated either by residential areas clearly defined by that decision or by types/categories of accommodation. The above decision shall enter into force three 3 months after its publication”.
Furthermore, the passers-by fee may also be imposed by decision of the city council on the following categories of establishments:
- a) folk art items,
- b) souvenirs and gifts,
- c) rental of local recreational boats, water bicycles, windsurfing boats, items used on the beach, schools for learning water sports and diving, and in general items used at sea by bathers,
- d) winter sports, skiing and mountaineering equipment, winter sports training schools,
- (e) rental of cars, motorcycles, bicycles and light personal electric vehicles (PPE) and PPE providers for shared use; and
- f) tourist souvenirs of all kinds.
What applies to Airbnb
In short-term leases, the guest accommodation fee is imposed (par. 1, article 1 of Law 339/1976 – A’ 136), which is calculated as a percentage of 0.5% of the rent paid. The declaration of the residence tax for visiting guests is submitted by natural persons with 3 or more properties, as well as by legal entities.
According to the Ministry of Interior, “A fairer adjustment of the transient tax is achieved, giving each municipality the option to choose the rate of 0.5% or 0.75%, in order to strengthen the revenue of each municipality depending on the infrastructure available and local peculiarities. That is, each municipality can decide to increase the rate to 0.75% if it considers that a particular area of the municipality is the most burdened or a particular category of business is the most burdened in the operation of the municipality.”
T he passers’ tax is revenue for local municipalities and can be used to cover any expense. The fee is borne by the guest, is shown on the tax documents issued and is collected by the landlord, who must then remit it to the recipient municipality within the VAT payment deadline. For those who are not required to file a VAT return, the tax must be declared by the last working day of the month following each calendar quarter.
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