2026 rates of the tourist tax in Barcelona: Catalan IEET regional tax, City Council municipal surcharge, exemptions for minors, and how to charge it automatically during online check-in.
Two stacked taxes: regional + municipal
In Barcelona, guests pay two separate tourist taxes that show up as a single combined amount on the invoice. The regional layer is the Impost sobre les Estades en Establiments Turístics (IEET) of the Generalitat de Catalunya, in force since 2012 and applying to all of Catalonia.
The municipal surcharge is an additional fee applied only by Barcelona City Council since 2021, raised year after year as a tourism-policy tool to ease pressure on the central districts and fund maintenance investment.
Although they are separate taxes with distinct legal frameworks, in practice they are collected from the guest as a single per-night amount and remitted to different administrations.
2026 IEET regional rates
- ✓5-star, grand luxury and higher hotel categories: €3.50/person/night.
- ✓4-star and 4-star superior hotels: €1.70/person/night.
- ✓Lower-category hotel, hostel, pension: €1.00/person/night.
- ✓Tourist apartment (HUT) and vivienda de uso turístico: €2.25/person/night.
- ✓Luxury campsite: €0.60/person/night.
- ✓Other campsites, youth hostels, other accommodation: €0.60/person/night.
- ✓Cruise ship (more than 12 hours docked): €3.00/person.
Barcelona City Council municipal surcharge
On top of the regional rates, Barcelona City Council adds a flat municipal surcharge. Introduced at €0.75 in 2021, raised to €1.00 in 2022, €2.75 in 2023, €3.25 in 2024 and €4.00/night in 2025. The Council has signalled further gradual increases.
The surcharge is flat across categories: a guest in a HUT and a guest in a 5-star hotel pay the same municipal amount per night, even though their regional IEET differs widely.
Maximum taxable stay is 7 nights: from the 8th night onwards, neither the regional IEET nor the municipal surcharge are due.
2026 Barcelona calculation examples
- ✓Guest in a Barcelona HUT: €2.25 (IEET) + €4.00 (surcharge) = €6.25/person/night.
- ✓Guest in a 5-star hotel: €3.50 (IEET) + €4.00 (surcharge) = €7.50/person/night.
- ✓Guest in a 3-star hotel: €1.00 (IEET) + €4.00 (surcharge) = €5.00/person/night.
- ✓Couple in a HUT for 4 nights: 2 × 4 × €6.25 = €50.00.
- ✓Family of 4 (2 adults + 2 minors) in a HUT for 5 nights: 2 × 5 × €6.25 = €62.50 (minors exempt).
Exemptions and reductions
- ✓Guests under 17 (16 included): exempt from regional IEET and from the municipal surcharge.
- ✓Force-majeure or emergency stays (officially declared).
- ✓Guests in social or detention establishments publicly funded.
- ✓From the 8th night onward, additional nights are exempt from both the IEET and the surcharge.
- ✓Business travel is NOT exempt — a business guest pays the same as a leisure guest.
How to declare and remit the taxes
The accommodation is the obliged party to collect, declare and remit. Each tax is self-assessed separately.
The regional IEET is filed quarterly on form 950 with the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) — April, July, October, January — or monthly for large filers.
The municipal surcharge is filed with Barcelona City Council, also quarterly, via the self-assessment on its e-office.
Not collecting the tax from the guest does not relieve the accommodation from remitting it: if you do not pass it through, it comes out of your margin.
Collect the tax automatically at check-in
Calculating the Barcelona tax correctly per booking is non-trivial: the rate depends on category, there is a 7-night cap, minors are exempt and the amounts change yearly. Doing it by hand at every arrival is highly error-prone — undercharging cuts margin; overcharging exposes you to complaints.
BookCheckin automatically calculates the applicable tax per Barcelona booking based on category, nights, adults and minors, applies the 8th-night cap and collects the correct amount during online check-in. The amount is recorded with the booking, ready for quarterly remittance.