Calculating tourist tax and city tax at your hotel: rules, invoices and remittance

What is tourist tax, and what is it called where you are?

Tourist tax is a levy that municipalities charge on overnight stays, usually to fund tourism, infrastructure or culture. The hotel charges it to the guest, collects it and pays it over to the municipality or tourist board. For you it is a pass-through item: you earn nothing from it, but you are liable for calculating and remitting it correctly.

In Austria, the federal states regulate the levy in their own laws, so the names vary accordingly: Ortstaxe, Nächtigungsabgabe, Aufenthaltsabgabe or Orts- und Nächtigungstaxe. In Germany there are two families: Kurtaxe, Kurbeitrag or Gästebeitrag in spa and holiday resorts, often combined with a guest card, and accommodation tax, bed tax or city tax (Übernachtungssteuer, Bettensteuer) in cities. Some cities use their own names, such as culture and tourism tax.

Typical rules: per person, percentage, age, exemptions

Most municipalities charge a fixed amount per person per night. Others, especially cities, charge a percentage of the room rate, sometimes of the net and sometimes of the gross price, with or without breakfast. If your municipality charges a percentage, clarify exactly which amount is the basis of assessment, because this is where most calculation errors occur.

On top come special rules. Children are often exempt up to a certain age or pay a reduced rate. Some places have seasonal rates, such as a higher amount in winter. Many spa resorts cap the levy at a maximum number of nights per stay. Depending on the location, there are exemptions for business travellers, people with disabilities, school classes or carers. Whether and how an exemption has to be proven is set out in the bylaw.

Worked example: a family, five nights

An example shows how much care a seemingly simple levy needs. The rates are entirely made up and for illustration only; your municipality’s actual figures may be quite different.

Showing tourist tax correctly on the invoice

Show the tourist tax as a separate line on the invoice, separate from accommodation and food, using the name your municipality uses. A short breakdown such as “2 adults × 5 nights” answers questions before they arise. If your municipality requires a specific note or the legal basis on the invoice, include it.

As a pass-through item, tourist tax is generally shown without VAT. Whether that applies to your levy, especially for percentage-based levies in cities, is something to clarify with your tax advisor. Important for online and OTA bookings: show guests at the time of booking whether tourist tax is included in the price or payable on site. A surprise at the front desk is a common reason for poor reviews.

Declaring and remitting to the municipality

At regular intervals you declare to the municipality how many person-nights were chargeable, reduced or exempt and what amount results, and you transfer it. Frequency and form are set by the municipality, often monthly or quarterly, and in many places via the registration system, from which the municipality already knows the overnight stays.

For the return to be correct, three figures must match: the registered guests, the calculated levy and the levy shown on invoices. Classic sources of error are bookings without the children’s ages, stays extended after the fact, cancellations and invoices that haven’t been created yet. A reconciliation before every return saves queries from the municipality.

How STRYK handles tourist tax

In STRYK you enter your municipality’s rule once: the name of the levy, a fixed amount per person per night or a percentage of the room rate, age limits for exempt and reduced-rate children, seasonal rates, a maximum number of chargeable nights and a legal note for the invoice. You decide whether the levy is included in the room rate or charged on top. For corporate agreements, you can specify whether the levy is calculated according to the hotel rule, included in the fixed price or exempt as business travel, provided your rule allows that exemption.

STRYK calculates the levy from the number of guests, children’s ages and nights as soon as the booking is made, and stores the result on the booking. Your own booking engine shows guests whether the levy applies and how much it is. On the invoice it appears as a separate line with your name for it and a breakdown, without VAT, and your legal note is printed too.

In the finance area, you create the tourist tax return for a period. STRYK counts chargeable, reduced and exempt person-nights, compares the calculated levy with the invoices and shows warnings and blocking errors, such as missing data. The return goes through review and approval, is given the municipality’s reference after submission and can be exported as CSV or Excel. You match payments to the return, including partial payments. The submission itself is made through the channel your municipality specifies.