Owner guide
Tourist tax in Tunisia: who pays, how much and how
Since the 2024 Finance Act, Tunisia's tourist tax is no longer just for hotels. Guesthouses, apartments and villas let by the night are covered too. Here are the rates, how the tax is worked out and declared, and some worked examples.
By Hichem Mathlouthi, managing director of KasbahostPublished 6 min read
Current tourist tax rates in Tunisia
The tourist tax is a national tax, not a municipal one, so the amount is the same in Tunis, Djerba or Tozeur. It is due for every night spent in tourist accommodation, by every person staying.
The current rates were set by Article 46 of Law no. 2023-13 of 11 December 2023, the Finance Act for 2024. The Ministry of Finance explained them in common note no. 8/2024, published on the jibaya.tn tax portal. The same figures appear in KPMG Tunisia's March 2024 tax circular and in the business press (Managers, Webdo).
The law treats two groups differently: Tunisians and nationals of the Arab Maghreb Union (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania), whose rates did not change; and everyone else, whose rates went up fourfold.
| Category | Tunisians and AMU nationals | Other nationalities | Before 2024 (other nationalities) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-star hotels and equivalent, including guesthouses | TND 1 | TND 4 | TND 1 |
| 3-star hotels | TND 2 | TND 8 | TND 2 |
| 4- and 5-star hotels | TND 3 | TND 12 | TND 3 |
Guesthouses are placed in the first band by common note no. 8/2024, according to the extracts we could read. Our research tool could not open the official PDF in full because of network restrictions, but every source we consulted gives the same amounts.
Which properties are covered
Before 2024 the tax applied in practice to classified tourist hotels. The 2024 Finance Act widened it. According to KPMG, it now covers aparthotels, holiday villages, boarding houses, boutique ('charm') hotels and tourist residences. According to Managers, the text also covers 'any other premises let as rooms, apartments or villas'. In practice that means guesthouses (including those in the Medina), rural gîtes, and furnished apartments and villas let by the night, including through Airbnb or Booking.com.
One point remains unclear: the sources we consulted do not say which rate band applies to an unclassified furnished apartment. Ask your tax office or accountant before you start charging.
Timing. The new rates have applied to individual guests since 1 January 2024. Contracts with travel agencies dated before then were exempt from the increase. According to Destination Tunisie, the increase is said to have applied to everyone, tour operator groups included, since 1 January 2025; if you work with agencies, have your tax office confirm this. For an apartment or guesthouse selling direct or through the platforms, 1 January 2024 is the date that matters.
The 10-night cap and exemptions
The cap. Each guest pays for at most 10 consecutive nights, up from 7 before 2024. The draft Finance Act proposed 15, but the adopted text kept 10, according to Managers and common note no. 8/2024.
Children. According to extracts of common note no. 8/2024 and Webdo, the tax only applies to guests over 12, so children aged 12 or under would be exempt. We could only read extracts of the text, so have your tax office confirm this rule before applying it. Keep a record of children's ages in case of an inspection.
Free stays. According to KPMG, the tax is still due when accommodation is provided free of charge. If in doubt, ask your tax office.
Who pays, collects and declares
- The guest pays. The tax is added to the room rate. It is not part of the property's revenue.
- The operator collects. The accommodation provider charges the tax and issues a receipt. If it is not charged, the operator still owes it.
- The operator declares and pays it over on the monthly tax return for the month after collection.
Deadlines. Individuals file their monthly return by the 15th of the following month. Companies filing online have until a date between the 20th and 23rd depending on the month; companies filing on paper have until around the 28th. The tax authority publishes the exact calendar every month and the press reports it (for example Tunisie Numérique for September 2026).
Private hosts on Airbnb. In principle they are liable like any other operator. How a private individual without a registered business actually pays it over is not described in any official source we found. Ask your local tax office (recette des finances) or an accountant. A private member's bill on furnished lettings was examined by Parliament's tourism committee on 11 March 2026; to our knowledge it has not been passed. For the wider legal picture, read our guide to short-term rental law in Tunisia.
Platforms. We found no source showing that Airbnb or Booking.com collect the Tunisian tourist tax on behalf of hosts. Build it into your rate or charge it on arrival, with a receipt.
Worked examples
The formula is always: number of taxable guests × nights (10 at most) × rate.
| Situation | Calculation | Tax due |
|---|---|---|
| Two French guests, 3 nights | 2 × 3 × TND 4 | TND 24 |
| A Tunisian couple, 3 nights | 2 × 3 × TND 1 | TND 6 |
| Two Algerian guests, 4 nights | 2 × 4 × TND 1 (AMU rate) | TND 8 |
| German couple with an 8-year-old, 5 nights | 2 × 5 × TND 4 (child exempt) | TND 40 |
| One British guest, 14 nights | 1 × 10 × TND 4 (10-night cap) | TND 40 |
These figures assume the guesthouse sits in the '2-star and equivalent' band, as the extracts of common note no. 8/2024 indicate. For a furnished apartment, the same calculation applies if the tax office uses the same band, which the sources we consulted do not specify. The child exemption relies on the over-12 rule above, taken from extracts of common note no. 8/2024.
A four-room guesthouse full of European couples collects about TND 32 a night (4 × 2 × TND 4). Over 20 full nights in a month, that is TND 640 to pay over. It costs you nothing if you charged it; it becomes a cost if you forgot.
Two common mistakes: counting the tax as revenue (it belongs to the State and should never be the basis of a commission), and confusing it with the TND 2-a-day levy created by the 2026 Finance Act, which applies to car hire, not accommodation. Guest numbers should also match your police registrations: see our guide to guest police registration.
How Kasbahost handles the tourist tax
For the guesthouses and apartments we run in the Medina of Tunis, the tourist tax is part of the team's routine work, not an optional extra. We calculate it for each stay by number of guests, nationality and length of stay, and collect it. The same guests are registered with the police, and both records come from the same data in Diarna, our in-house software. We declare and pay the tax over every month, and it appears on the owner's monthly statement alongside bookings, expenses, invoices and withholding tax, and in the online owner area.
To see what else we take care of, visit our page on short-term rental management in Tunisia.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the tourist tax in a Tunisian guesthouse?
According to the tax authority's common note no. 8/2024, guesthouses fall into the same band as 2-star hotels: 1 dinar per person per night for Tunisians and nationals of the Arab Maghreb Union, and 4 dinars for everyone else. The tax is capped at 10 consecutive nights.
Who pays the tourist tax, the guest or the owner?
The guest bears the cost. The operator collects it, issues a receipt and pays it over to the State with the monthly tax return. If the operator forgets to charge it, the amount is still owed.
Does it apply to an apartment let on Airbnb?
In principle, yes: since the 2024 Finance Act, the tax also covers 'any other premises let as rooms, apartments or villas'. Which rate band applies to an unclassified furnished apartment is not spelled out in the sources we could consult, so check with your local tax office.
Do children pay the tourist tax?
From the extracts of common note no. 8/2024 that we consulted, the tax only applies to guests over 12. We recommend checking the full text before relying on it.
Do Airbnb or Booking.com collect the Tunisian tourist tax?
We found no source showing that the platforms collect and remit the Tunisian tourist tax. Assume it remains your responsibility as the operator, or your manager's.
How does Kasbahost handle the tourist tax?
For the properties we run, we collect the tourist tax from guests, declare it and pay it over. It appears on the owner's monthly statement. See our short-term rental management service.
Sources
All sources consulted on 13 October 2026. Official documents could not be opened directly by our research tool because of network restrictions; their content was checked against search-engine extracts and cross-referenced with the press.
- Ministry of Finance, common note no. 8/2024 on the tourist tax (jibaya.tn) — official source, read in extracts.
- Law no. 2023-13 of 11 December 2023, Finance Act for 2024, Article 46 — text on jibaya.tn.
- KPMG Tunisia, tax circular on the new tourist tax regime, March 2024.
- Managers, 2024 Finance Act measures for tourism and article on the tourist tax.
- Webdo, tourist tax rises to TND 12 in 4- and 5-star hotels.
- Destination Tunisie, what changes for tourism in 2025.
- Tunisie Numérique, tax deadlines for September 2026.
This guide is general information and does not replace advice from an accountant or your tax office.
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