Accommodation Tax in the High Tatras: the €3.50 Rate, the Ordinance and the Tatry Card

What is the rate and who sets it?

The legal framework is Act No. 582/2004 Coll. on Local Taxes, which leaves the rate entirely to the municipality. The town of Vysoké Tatry — which administers the whole territory from Podbanské to Tatranská Kotlina, including Starý Smokovec, Tatranská Lomnica and the part of Štrbské Pleso belonging to the town — set it in Ordinance No. 5/2023 at €3.50 per person per overnight stay, which together with Bratislava’s Old Town and Košice is the highest rate in Slovakia. The accommodation tax is a significant revenue for the town — it collects roughly €2.8 million a year.

The taxpayer is the guest, the payer is the host: you collect the tax during the stay and remit it to the town.

When and how to register?

Watch the deadline: you notify the tax administrator of the start of operating an accommodation establishment no later than the day operations begin — not within 30 days, as is common in other towns. So complete the registration before welcoming your first guest. Forms and contacts are on the town’s website (vysoketatry.sk).

How often is the tax remitted?

Monthly. You notify the tax administrator of the tax base (the number of overnight stays) for the past calendar month and remit the collected tax by the 15th day of the following month.

Who is exempt, and who pays half?

Ordinance No. 5/2023 exempts from the tax:

• persons under 18,
• holders of a ŤZP (severe disability) card and their companions,
• persons in material need.

A Tatra particularity is the 50% rate reduction for guests on approved spa treatment and for participants in reconditioning stays — over longer treatment stays, a noticeable difference. Have guests prove the reason for the exemption or reduction and record it with the stay.

Paying the tax pays off for guests: the Tatry Card

Since August 2026 the town, together with the Vysoké Tatry Tourism Association, rewards guests who stay with a registered host paying the tax: the guest receives mountain insurance, the virtual Tatry Card with more than 30 discounts at partners in the region, and a discount on the Tatra electric railways. The scheme is built on digital accommodation records and is deliberately designed to disadvantage illegal, undeclared accommodation.

For the host, this is a double argument: registering and honestly remitting the tax is no longer just an obligation under threat of a fine, but a competitive advantage — your guests get benefits that guests of undeclared apartments will not.

Does Airbnb collect the tax for me?

No. The only agreement on automatic tax collection at booking with a Slovak city so far is Airbnb’s in Bratislava (details in the Bratislava guide). In the Tatras you collect and remit the tax yourself, regardless of the booking channel.

How Best Guest handles this

Best Guest lets you set the Tatra rate, the exemptions and the 50% reduction once, and then automatically calculates the accommodation tax for every stay and prepares the documents for the monthly notification to the town. The digital guest register also serves as the guest records that registration for benefits like the Tatry Card relies on.

Related pages

• Accommodation tax in Slovakia — the nationwide overview
• Accommodation tax in Bratislava
• Accommodation tax in Košice
• Act No. 582/2004 Coll. on Local Taxes
• Host obligations in Slovakia