How to legally rent out an apartment in Croatia: permit, categorisation and taxes

Who may be a household host

Hospitality services in a household are provided by a natural person — a citizen of Croatia or of an EEA state — who owns the property or holds the right to use it. The activity is not carried out through a company; that is precisely what makes the simplified flat-rate regime available.

There are capacity limits for the household regime, and exceeding them pushes you into a business form (obrt or company) with full bookkeeping. If you are planning more than a handful of units, ask about the current limits before you invest.

The property must satisfy the minimum conditions and the conditions for the category applied for: water, electricity, sanitary facilities, room sizes, ventilation, heating and fire safety.

The operating decision and categorisation

You apply to the administrative department for tourism of your county (in Zagreb, to the City office). The application includes proof of ownership or right of use, documentation for the property, and proof of paid fees.

An inspection follows. The decision that is issued states the type of facility (apartment, room, studio apartment, holiday house, camp in a household), the number of units and the number of beds — the same bed count that later drives your tourist tax and flat-rate income tax.

After the decision you must display a standardised plaque with the category, and post the price list and house rules visibly in each unit.

Keep a scan of the decision. You will need the bed and unit numbers from it repeatedly — in eVisitor, in the tourist board records, and in your tax filings.

Tax registration and the flat-rate regime

Within eight days of the decision you register with the Tax Register at your local Tax Administration office. Household hosts are normally taxed on a flat-rate basis: the annual tax is calculated per bed, with the per-bed amount set by the municipality or town within the statutory range, increased by the local surtax where applicable.

The tax is paid quarterly. By the end of January you file the PO-SD annual report of realised nights for the previous year, which is also the basis on which the Tax Administration issues the next decision.

Because the tax is per bed and not per night, the amount does not fall in a weak season. Plan it as a fixed cost of the season, like insurance or the tourist tax flat rate.

VAT, and why Booking and Airbnb commission matters

The Croatian VAT registration threshold is EUR 60,000 of turnover in a calendar year. Below it, a household host does not charge VAT on accommodation.

There is a separate rule that surprises new hosts: commission charged by Booking.com or Airbnb is a service received from a supplier in another EU member state. To receive it you need a Croatian VAT identification number and you must self-account for VAT on that commission, filing the relevant return — even while you are below the EUR 60,000 threshold and not in the regular VAT system.

Ask your accountant to set this up before your first payout, not after. Retroactive filings are the most common avoidable cost in a first season.

eVisitor and your first season

Your local tourist board opens the eVisitor account once the property is registered. From that point every guest is registered within 24 hours of arrival and checked out within 24 hours of departure.

The tourist tax for household accommodation is an annual flat amount per bed, payable in full by 31 July or in three instalments (31 July, 31 August, 30 September), with payment slips from eVisitor. The tourist board membership fee is separate and reported on the TZ form.

Recurring annual obligations, in one line: PO-SD by the end of January, TZ report by 15 January, quarterly flat-rate tax, tourist tax by 31 July, and continuous eVisitor registrations.

EU short-term rental rules

EU Regulation 2024/1028 on data collection and sharing for short-term rental services standardises registration numbers and data exchange between platforms and member states across the Union. In practice it means that what you declare to the state and what Booking or Airbnb show about your listing must match.

Consequence for you: keep the registration number, the bed count and the unit description identical in the decision, in eVisitor and in your platform listings. Discrepancies are exactly what the data exchange is designed to surface.

Your first season: what to do before the first guest

Before the first arrival, three things must physically exist at the property: the standardised board marking the type and category of the accommodation, a visible price list with the tourist tax stated, and the house rules the guest can read.

Prepare the operational side as well: an inventory list per unit, a cleaning and changeover routine between departure and arrival, and one place where all reservations live so the same date cannot be sold twice across Booking, Airbnb and direct enquiries.

In MojPorat that place is the reservation ledger: seasonal price bands are calculated per stay, iCal feeds keep the platform calendars aligned, guest data flows into the eVisitor submission, and the season summary for your accountant is exported with the income, tourist tax and membership fee figures already totalled.