vAT on Booking and Airbnb commission: who pays it, by when and on which form

A private host on the flat-rate tax (paušal) is not in the VAT system and does not charge guests VAT. That is why some hosts do not realise they still pay VAT, just on the other side: on the commission charged by platforms and agencies based in other EU countries. According to the Croatian Tax Administration (Porezna uprava) guide for private hosts (updated January 2026), an EU taxable person will not charge VAT on its service; the host has to account for it instead, at the Croatian rate of 25%.

who this applies to

Any host who receives a service from a company in another EU country: booking intermediation, advertising or travel agency services. In an opinion from 2014, the Tax Administration states that this obligation exists regardless of whether you are entered in the VAT register. For advertising on foreign portals, it adds that it does not matter whether the portal is based in the EU or in a non-EU country. The opinion is older, and the Tax Administration itself advises checking it against later changes to the rules.

Who issues your commission invoice, and from which country, is stated on the platform invoice itself. That is the first thing you need to know.

a vat identification number does not put you in the vat system

To work with an EU taxable person you need a VAT identification number (PDV identifikacijski broj). According to the Tax Administration, request it at least 15 days before you start receiving the service, using form P-PDV at your local tax office. Being assigned this number is not the same as being entered in the VAT register: you remain on the flat-rate tax and still do not charge guests VAT. The same logic applies to e-invoices, which we covered in eRačuni od 2027.: trebaju li ih slati iznajmljivači na paušalu?

In its Help Centre, Airbnb says that if a host's EU VAT number has been verified through the VIES system, Airbnb does not charge VAT on its service fees, and it is the host's responsibility to self-assess the tax. You add the number under Account settings → Taxes, and it takes effect within 24 hours. Airbnb does not say whether this also applies to earlier reservations.

deadlines and forms

VAT on services received is reported electronically on the PDV form and the PDV-S form. The deadline for filing and payment is the last day of the current month for the previous month. The PDV-S form only lists services received from EU member states. Example: VAT on services received in November is reported and paid by 31 December.

Example calculation (illustrative): bookings through platforms brought you €10,000 and the commission is 15%. The commission is €1,500 and the VAT on it is €375. You pay this amount to the state, not to the platform. The right to deduct input VAT is tied to being entered in the VAT register, so for a flat-rate host this VAT is, as a rule, an extra cost. To see how much an individual platform actually takes, read Airbnb uzima 15,5 %.

This VAT and the flat-rate income tax are two separate obligations. We covered how much the paušal is and what is changing in Paušal po krevetu.

what to do

1. Take the latest commission invoice from each platform and agency and check who issues it and from which country.
2. Check whether you have a VAT identification number. If you do not, and you work with EU companies, submit form P-PDV at your tax office.
3. On Airbnb, check that the number is entered and verified under Taxes in your account settings.
4. For every month in which you received a service, file the PDV and PDV-S forms and pay the VAT by the end of the following month.
5. If you are not sure whether everything was reported for past periods, ask your accountant or your local tax office.

You can also take part of your bookings at a 2% commission: Register on Livvi.