Resort tax in Russia in 2023

What is the resort fee, in which regions of Russia it is valid, how much and for what period of rest you need to pay, and who is exempt from the fee – in the material “Kommersant”.

Since 2018, a special tax for tourists has been experimentally levied on visitors in the Altai, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories. Corresponding law was adopted in July 2017. December 5, 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin extended a pilot project to collect the resort tax until December 31, 2024, including St. Petersburg and the Sirius federal territory in the list of participants, as an independent unit on a par with other subjects of the Russian Federation.

The amount of the contribution, conditions, territory and procedure for its payment are determined by local authorities, however, according to the law, the amount cannot exceed 100 rubles. per day. Thus, the guest must pay the regionally fixed rate multiplied by the number of days of actual stay. This money goes to the budget of the region, and in the future is directed to the improvement of the resort area. The funds are intended for the maintenance and repair of tourism infrastructure facilities, as well as the design and construction of new ones.

“The reason for the introduction of this tax is the imbalance in the distribution of budget revenues from various tax collections, as well as the imbalance between the federal and regional budgets. This leads to the fact that the resort regions have no financial interest in the development of tourism. The state has now designated one of the main development of tourism. An increase in the number of tourists in any region leads to the fact that the costs of garbage collection, landscaping, and organization of spaces grow, while tourism revenues to the regional budget do not, since the region receives income mainly from salary and property taxes, and not from the number of tourists. Therefore, the state offered the regions to directly receive income from tourists with the help of the resort fee,” said Ilya Umansky, general director of the national tour operator Alean.

Where is the resort fee charged

Krasnodar region

In the Krasnodar Territory, vacationers in Sochi will have to pay the most. In 2022, the resort fee there is 50 rubles. daily. In Anapa, Gelendzhik, Yeysk, Sirius and seven other municipalities, the tourist tax is less – 30 rubles. per day.

“Sirius”

“Sirius” was already in the experiment, but as part of the Krasnodar Territory. Then the tourist tax was set at 30 rubles. per day. Due to a change in legislation from December 5, 2022, the collection of a resort fee from guests of the federal territory temporarily suspended until the adoption of its own regulations and is expected to resume from April 1 of this year.

Stavropol region

The resort fee is charged from tourists in four cities of the Stavropol Territory – Essentuki, Kislovodsk, Zheleznovodsk and Pyatigorsk. From January 1, 2023, the vacation tax there has been increased to 100 rubles.

Altai region

In the Altai Territory, the resort tax is levied on the territory of only one resort – Belokurikha. Tourists living there are required to pay 50 rubles. every day.

Saint Petersburg

In St. Petersburg resort tax planned enter from August 1, 2023, and its amount will be 100 rubles. per day.

Crimea and Sevastopol

Formally, the resort fee experiment also applies to CrimeaHowever, in February 2022, the regional authorities decided to finally abandon this idea, considering the measure inappropriate. On the extension of the moratorium in December informed and head of the Crimean State Council Vladimir Konstantinov. Alushta, Sudak, Feodosia and Yalta withdrew from the project, other municipalities did not apply for participation.

At the beginning of June 2022, the authorities took the initiative to join the tourist taxation Sevastopol. The Federation Council has launched the process of including the resort city in the number of regions that collect fees from tourists, but the timing has not yet been determined.

By according to Izvestia, they want to extend the resort fee to all regions of Russia. The State Duma may consider the corresponding bill in March.

Who pays the resort fee

Tourist tax is levied on adult guests of the resort area who stay on its territory for more than 24 hours. In fact, not only vacationers can fall into this category, but also people who have come for a different purpose, for example, on a business trip or for rehabilitation. The fee is collected from both Russians and foreigners.

However, there are exceptions – the following are exempt from the resort fee:

• local residents and property owners in the resort area;
• children;
• category of guests indicated in law. Among them:
• employees of local enterprises;
• participants in the Second World War, military operations, family members of fallen veterans;
• disabled people (groups I and II), sometimes accompanying;
• Heroes of Russia or the Soviet Union;
• liquidators of accidents at nuclear power plants;
• patients receiving treatment under the CHI program;
• tuberculosis patients;
• poor families;
• students under 24;
• athletes and specialists in the field of physical culture.

Important! Exemption from tourist tax must be supported by an appropriate document.

It is worth noting that there is no need to pay the fee for those who are resting on the territory of the resort “savage” – in a tent or visiting relatives.

How to pay the resort fee

The obligation to collect the resort fee is assigned to tourist accommodation facilities – hotels, boarding houses, sanatoriums, apartments, etc. Payment is made by a separate check upon check-in or on another day of stay, the main thing is to have time to pay before departure. In this case, the tax cannot be included in the price of the tour or the price of the room.

“This resort fee is collected from hotels. And in some regions this system works normally, for example, in the Caucasian Mineralnye Vody, in Belokurikha in Altai. There are indeed many sanatoriums and other collective accommodation facilities from which this tax is collected, the money is sent to the municipal budget for the development of the resort. But in our southern regions, up to 80% of tourists are accommodated in the private sector, and it is not a payer of any taxes. This is partly why the attractiveness of this type of accommodation is growing. So, tourists staying in official hotel complexes are in a non-competitive environment with respect to the private sector, they are also charged this fee,” Mr. Umansky noted.

Note! The tax is not charged on the day of arrival, but is always charged in full on the day of departure, regardless of the time when the tourists left the hotel.

Is it possible to evade the fee?

In case of non-payment of tourist tax, the guest faces an administrative fine in the amount of 500 to 2 thousand rubles. The accommodation facility is obliged to report this fact to the supervisory authority. The authority to control the collection of funds is exercised by the Ministry of Tourism of the region.

Important! If the guest refuses to pay the resort fee, then the hotel, resort or any other place providing hotel services does not have the right to refuse to accommodate the tourist.

Arkady Komarov; group “Direct speech”