Tourist tax in Zermatt: the owner's guide

Who pays, and how much: CHF 4.– per night per person

Zermatt's tourist tax (Kurtaxe) is governed by the municipal regulations on tourist taxes, in force since 1 November 2022. It is owed by anyone who spends the night in the municipality without being domiciled there — so it is your guest who owes it, but it is you, the accommodation provider, who must collect and remit it: failing that, you are personally liable for it.

The rate is uniform across all forms of accommodation: CHF 4.– per person per night. Children aged 9 to 16 pay half rate, i.e. CHF 2.– per night; children under 9 are exempt. Also exempt, among others, are residents domiciled in Zermatt and persons accommodated free of charge by a resident. The proceeds of the tax are earmarked for tourism: CHF 2.60 funds Zermatt Tourismus, CHF 0.40 goes into the tourist infrastructure fund and CHF 1.– into the resort's events pool.

A worked example: a family of two adults with an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old stays 7 nights in your apartment. The adults owe 2 × 4 × 7 = CHF 56.–, the 11-year-old 2 × 7 = CHF 14.–, the youngest nothing. Total: CHF 70.– to collect and remit for that single booking. Over a season of 150 booked nights, the collection quickly represents several thousand francs to track to the last franc.

How to declare: registration with Zermatt Tourismus

Zermatt Tourismus is the body officially tasked with collecting the tax on behalf of the municipality. The declaration of nights (Kurtaxenanmeldung) is done electronically, as a rule on the very day of the guest's arrival. For each guest, the following minimum data must be transmitted: rented property, surname and first name, nationality, language, date of birth, arrival and departure dates, and the lead guest's contact details (mobile phone, address, e-mail). Manual submission may be authorised on request, no later than one week after the guest's departure.

Invoicing follows a monthly rhythm: the following month, Zermatt Tourismus issues the invoice for the taxes due, payable within 30 days. In the event of late payment, a reminder sets a 10-day deadline, after which 5% default interest and debt enforcement proceedings apply. For an owner managing several dozen bookings a year alone, this declaration-invoice-payment mechanism is one of the heaviest administrative burdens of renting out in Zermatt.

The annual flat rate for personal use: CHF 160.– per bed

The regulations provide a special regime for owners (and usufructuaries) who occupy their dwelling themselves or let it on a long-term basis (a lease of at least three consecutive months to a person not domiciled in Zermatt): they pay a Jahrespauschale, an annual flat rate of CHF 160.– per bed, calculated as 40 nights at the CHF 4.– rate. Each sleeping place counts as one bed, a double bed as two. For a 6-bed apartment, the flat rate therefore comes to 6 × 160 = CHF 960.– per year, invoiced once per tourist year (from 1 November to 31 October) and payable within 30 days.

An essential point for a short-term landlord: the flat rate does not cover paid rentals. The regulations are explicit: for any rental for payment, the tax is levied per night, on top of the annual flat rate. In other words, an owner who uses the property a few weeks a year and rents it out the rest of the time pays the flat rate for their own use and declares every night of their guests. The two regimes coexist — a classic source of good-faith errors, which the municipality can nevertheless sanction.

Sanctions: what a negligent owner risks

The enforcement system is real: Zermatt Tourismus cross-checks the declaration data against the municipal housing register and can carry out inspections. Anyone who attempts to evade payment, provides false or incomplete information, or accumulates late payments faces a fine of up to CHF 5,000.–, imposed by the competent cantonal authority — a fine that does not remove the obligation to pay the taxes due. If a debtor refuses to provide the necessary data, the municipal council can proceed with an ex officio assessment, enforceable within the meaning of the debt enforcement law, at the offender's expense.

Added to this are the 5% default interest and enforcement costs in the event of unpaid invoices. In a resort where Airbnb and Booking.com listings are public and easily cross-referenced with the housing register, betting on non-declaration is objectively a bad bet.

What our concierge service automates for you

For the properties we manage in Zermatt, the tourist tax disappears from your mental load: we collect guest data from the moment of booking, complete the electronic registration with Zermatt Tourismus on the day of arrival, check the monthly invoices and ensure remittance on time. Every monthly report you receive details the nights declared and the tax remitted — giving you complete traceability in the event of an inspection. And if your situation combines personal use and rental, we help you correctly combine the annual flat rate with the per-night declarations.

Tourist tax and platforms: who actually collects it?

Many owners assume that Airbnb or Booking.com automatically collect and remit the municipal tourist tax. In Zermatt, it is not that simple: depending on the platform, the booking channel and the listing settings, the tax may be collected by the platform, invoiced separately to the guest, or remain entirely the owner's responsibility, in which case they must collect it themselves and declare it to the municipality. For direct bookings or via a channel that does not handle the tax, the owner always remains liable towards Zermatt Tourismus.

The classic mistake is to assume that "the platform takes care of it" and to discover, during an inspection or the annual declaration, arrears to settle. Our concierge service maps, for each listing, what is actually collected per channel, collects the difference where necessary, and keeps the accounts up to date for the declaration. You keep complete traceability, without having to follow each platform's own rules.

Further reading