Tourist tax on tourist accommodation

Verified 01 January 2026 - Company Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister), Ministry of Economy

Municipalities or EPCI: titleContent may impose a tourist tax on the real (due by occasional residents) or on the package (due by landlords or hoteliers who recover it from their customers). The decision must be made before the 1ster july to apply from 1 er January of the following year. The decision also determines the criteria for the tax, such as the collection period (tourist season) or the amount applicable depending on the nature and classification of the accommodation.

Accommodation taxed are:

  • Bed and Breakfast
  • Outdoor accommodation (camping, caravan, motorhome areas and tourist parking lots)
  • Tourist hotel
  • Furnished for tourism
  • Palace
  • Marina
  • Tourist residence
  • Holiday village.

To be applicable, the tax must have been established by a deliberation of the municipal council or the EPCI's deliberative body.

The municipal council or the legislative body may not exempt a type or category of accommodation for a fee.

It is the deliberation of the municipal council or the deliberative body establishing the tourist tax that determines the conditions of application, either in real or in fixed terms.

Tableau - Conditions of application of the tourist tax to the real or to the package

Tax on the real

Flat-rate tax

Liable

Person not domiciled in the commune or on the territory of the EPCI, who stays in a commercial accommodation

Lessor, hotelier and owner who lodges for a fee people passing through

Calculation method

The number of nights spent

Independent of the actual number of people accommodated.

Tax based on the capacity (number of persons that the establishment can accommodate), to which a reduction of between 10% and 80%.

The reduction depends on the duration of the establishment's opening

Exemption

Person under 18 years of age

Holder of a seasonal employment contract employed in the municipality

Beneficiary of emergency accommodation or temporary relocation

Person occupying premises whose rent is less than an amount determined by the municipal council

Mention on the invoice given to the customer

Mandatory

Must be separate from the room price (tax not included in the room price)

Not required

If the tax is passed on to the price of the accommodation, the host can include the mention on the invoice flat-rate tourist tax included

VAT

Not included in the VAT tax base, because the landlord is the collector of the tax and must include it in his invoice to the customer

Included in the VAT base of the landlord, because the tax is integrated into the sale price

Before the beginning of the collection period (corresponding to the tourist season), the rates of the real or flat-rate tax are fixed by deliberation of the municipal council, or of the deliberative body of theEPCI: titleContent.

However, these rates must be between a minimum rate (floor rate) and a maximum rate (ceiling rate) for each accommodation category on the basis of the official accommodation classification.

The tax must be collected by the landlord, before the departure of the people accommodated, even if he accepted a deferred payment of the rent.

In addition, the departmental council may, on deliberation, additional tax of 10% the tourist tax levied in the department. It is collected according to the same criteria as the tourist tax to which it is added. It is donated by the municipality to the department.

To know the price of the tourist tax in a municipality, you can use this online service:

Tourist tax rates per municipality

Details of the 2026 scale are also available on the following page: Tourist tax: what are the rates?.

Warning  

In Île-de-France, a additional fee from 200% is added to the tourist tax rate.

The tax rate must be displayed in town hall and at the landlord's or at the intermediary responsible for collecting the tax (real estate agency for example).

The conditions for declaration and payment differ according to the type of tourist tax:

  • for the real tax : taxable landlords or hoteliers must pay the amount of the tax collected to the local accountant on the dates set by the municipal council or the EPCI's legislative body
  • for the flat-rate tax : the landlord or hotelier must send, at the latest 1 month before the collection period, a declaration to the town hall, indicating the nature of their accommodation, the opening or rental period and the capacity that serves as a basis for calculating the tax. The lump sum must be paid to the local accountant on the dates set by the municipal council or the legislative body.

The tax may be paid once or several times in the year.

Some town halls put online these declaration forms or allow to make the declaration directly online. (To be checked on the website of the town hall or EPCI, in particular Paris.)

In the event of failure to make a declaration or late payment, the mayor or the president of the EPCI may initiate a taxation procedure ex officio, after formal notice. In the absence of regularization, a reasoned tax assessment notice shall be communicated to the declarant in default at least 30 days before the assessment. Any delay in payment shall give rise to the application of default interest of 0.20% by month of delay.

Warning  

the declaration for the tourist tax must not be confused with the compulsory declaration that must be made, before the start of the rental, to their town hall, by individuals who rent out all or part of their personal dwelling during the tax period (bed and breakfast, furnished for tourism). Except for furnished tourism, if it is the main residence (accommodation occupied 8 months minimum per year except professional obligation, health reason or case of force majeure).

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