0, 7 or 19 percent?: Checking hotel bills: When City Tax is taxed incorrectly
City Tax, bed tax or cultural subsidy levy: The terms on the hotel bill vary from city to city. So do the amounts. What travelers should pay attention to when checking their bill.
Hotel bills often include additional charges such as City Tax, Bettensteuer, or Übernachtungssteuer, which can be confusing for travelers. According to Daniela Karbe-Geßler from the Bund der Steuerzahler, there is no uniform federal rate for these charges, and cities and municipalities set their own rates and calculation methods.
For example, Berlin charges 7.5% of the net overnight stay fee, while Köln charges 5%. Hotels can list these charges separately or include them in the room price, and both methods are permissible. A 19% VAT on City Tax is not allowed, and travelers should check their bills carefully to ensure accuracy.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
