Booking from 1 December: 25% VAT on commission if you have no VAT ID
Booking.com has told its Croatian partners that from 1 December 2026 it will charge Croatian VAT on its commission to anyone who has not provided a valid VAT identification number. What that means in euros and what to check before your first December invoice.
In late September, Booking.com informed its Croatian partners that from 1 December 2026 it is changing how VAT on its commission is handled. If your Booking account has no valid VAT identification number (PDV identifikacijski broj) on file, Booking will charge and collect Croatian VAT of 25% on its commission itself. The deadline Booking gave for submitting the number was 31 October.
who this applies to
According to the notice as reported by Croatian media, the change affects partners without a valid VAT ID recorded on their Booking partner account. If you have the number and it is on file, nothing changes: Booking does not add Croatian VAT, and you keep reporting and paying it yourself to the Croatian Tax Administration (Porezna uprava). According to the same sources, Booking's notice states that the partner remains responsible for reporting and paying tax to the Croatian authorities.
VAT is charged on the commission, not on the full booking amount.
Example calculation (illustrative): a €1,000 booking with a 15% commission means €150 in commission. Without a VAT ID, another €37.50 of VAT is added to the commission invoice, €187.50 in total. To see what each platform actually takes, read Airbnb takes 15.5%.
the rule isn't new, who calculates it is
According to the Tax Administration's guide for private hosts, a host who receives a service from a company in another EU country needs a VAT ID and calculates 25% VAT on that service themselves, on the PDV and PDV-S forms, by the last day of the month for the previous month. A VAT ID is not VAT registration: you stay on the flat-rate scheme (paušal) and do not charge guests VAT. We covered this in detail in VAT on Booking and Airbnb commission.
What is new is that for partners without a number, the VAT no longer stays uncharged on Booking's side. Booking puts it directly on the commission invoice.
what is still unclear
In the sources we found, Booking does not say whether a number added after 31 October will apply to invoices from December, or whether VAT already charged can be corrected if the number is added later. It is also not explained how Booking's charge relates to the obligation towards the Tax Administration of a host who has no number but should have one. Look for these answers in the Booking Extranet or ask your accountant, rather than assuming.
what to do
- Check in the Booking Extranet whether your VAT ID is on file and correct.
- If you don't have a number and you work with Booking or other EU platforms, submit form P-PDV at your local Tax Administration office. The Tax Administration says it should be requested at least 15 days before you start receiving the service.
- If you added the number after 31 October, check via the Extranet or Booking support whether it will apply to invoices from December.
- Look at your first commission invoice after 1 December and see whether VAT has been charged on it.
- If it has, and you're unsure what that means for your PDV-S return, ask your accountant or the Tax Administration office before the filing deadline.
You can take some of your bookings at a 2% commission: Register on Livvi.