Municipal accommodation tax, and how it differs from the resilience fee

Hosts in Greece can be asked for two charges that sound alike. One is the climate resilience fee. The other is the municipal accommodation tax, called τέλος παρεπιδημούντων in Greek.

They are not the same charge. Different people pay them. They are worked out in different ways. They are declared at different times. This page explains the municipal tax, and then puts the two side by side.

What this tax is

The municipal accommodation tax is a local charge on accommodation revenue. The money goes to the municipality where your property is. It does not go to the State.

Hotels and rooms to let have paid it for many years. Short-term rentals were added later. Law 5073/2023 brought them in, and the charge applies from 1 January 2024. The way you declare and pay it is set by a joint ministerial decision. The decision that applies now was issued in March 2025. The tax itself is set by article 30 of Law 5143/2024. It replaced the earlier one from December 2023.

Who has to pay it

Not every host pays this tax.

You pay it if you rent through a company. You also pay it if you are a private person and you rent three or more properties.

You do not pay it if you are a private person renting one or two properties.

This is the same three-property line that Greek law uses in other short-term rental rules. If you are close to it, or if some properties are yours and some belong to a company, ask your accountant which side you are on.

How much it is

The rate is 0.5% of your gross accommodation revenue.

A municipality can raise it to 0.75%. The municipal council has to take a decision, and the higher rate starts three months after that decision is published.

Many municipalities have already done this. In a 2025 review of 40 municipalities, about 24 were at 0.75%. They include Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Chania, Rhodes, Kos, Mykonos and Paros.

So the rate depends on where your property is. Check your own municipality before you file, and check again each year.

What the tax is calculated on

The tax is a percentage of your gross accommodation revenue in that municipality. Gross means the amount before your own costs.

One point is not clear from the published texts. Some sources say the climate resilience fee is taken out of the amount first, because that money is collected for the State and is never your income. Ask your accountant how to treat it in your case.

When you declare and pay

There are two deadlines. Which one applies depends on whether you submit VAT returns.

If you submit VAT returns, you declare this tax together with your VAT return. You pay it by the same deadline as the VAT.

If you do not submit VAT returns, you declare and pay every three months. The deadline is the last working day of the month after each calendar quarter. That means April, July, October and January.

You file one declaration. If your properties are in more than one municipality, that single declaration shows the revenue for each municipality separately.

If you pay late

A surcharge of 2% is added for each month of delay. The surcharge stops at 100% of the tax. It cannot grow above that.

How it differs from the resilience fee

The climate resilience fee has its own guide. These are the five differences that matter

• Who pays. The guest pays the resilience fee. You pay the municipal tax, out of your own revenue.
• Who it applies to. Every short-term rental pays the resilience fee. Only companies and hosts with three or more properties pay the municipal tax.
• How it is worked out. The resilience fee is a fixed amount for each night. The municipal tax is a percentage of your revenue.
• How often you declare. You declare the resilience fee every month. You declare the municipal tax with your VAT return, or every three months.
• Who gets the money. The resilience fee goes to the State. The municipal tax goes to your municipality.

Why some hosts hear it does not apply

In July 2026 the Administrative Court of First Instance of Athens cancelled tax assessments that had been issued to a short-term rental company for 2019, 2020 and 2021. Before Law 5073/2023 there was no clear rule in the law putting short-term rentals inside this tax, so the court found no basis for those years.

That decision is about the years before 2024. It changes nothing from 1 January 2024 onward. From that date the rule is written in the law, and the tax is due.

Where this comes from

• AADE — short-term rental guide after Law 5073/2023
• The joint ministerial decision setting the current procedure (16405/2025)
• AADE — decision Α.1209/2023
• Taxheaven — the resilience fee and the municipal tax on short-term rentals from 1.1.2024
• POMIDA — the joint ministerial decision on the municipal tax
• AFS — who owes the municipal accommodation tax
• Vontikakis — short-term rentals, the resilience fee and the municipal tax
• Blue Value — the change from 0.5% to 0.75%
• NewMoney — 0.50% to 0.75% on rentals shorter than six months
• Tornos News — the Athens court decision on the years before 2024

Rules change. This page was last reviewed on the date shown above and is general information, not legal advice. Check the official sources before you file, or ask an accountant.