The fee payers are persons who host visitors and tourists at the tourist accommodation establishments for a fee, including, the persons who rent the residential premises to tourists if the regulation of the Residential Rent Law is not applicable to the above situation.

Pursuant to the Tourism Law a tourist accommodation is a part of a building, group of buildings, or arranged place (territory) in which a merchant or a performer of economic activity ensures daily accommodation and servicing of tourists

Pursuant to the Tourism Law a tourist is a natural person who travels outside his or her permanent place of residence for not longer than one year, stays in a public or private accommodation for not less than one night, and does not carry out paid work in the place visited.

When? A person who possesses an actively operating tourist accommodation establishment as at January 01^st, 2023, is obliged to register as a fee payer. If a person starts to run a tourist accommodation establishment after January 01^st, 2023, then he or she is obliged to register as a fee payer within 10 working days after starting the activity.

Where? Registration as a fee payer should be performed at the Public Administration Services portal https://latvija.gov.lv/ via e-service EP233 “Municipal fee for hosting visitors and tourists in Riga” (hereinafter – e-service).

How? In order to register as a fee payer, the person specifies in the e-service online form the basic data of the fee payer, the basic data of the tourist accommodation establishment and the date when hosting visitors and tourists started at the tourist accommodation establishment or makes a note that the tourist accommodation establishment had already been actively operating as at January 01^st, 2023. If the fee payer hosts visitors and tourists at several tourist accommodation establishments, then upon registration, the fee payer is obliged to specify each tourist accommodation establishment separately.

Tourist accommodation code Upon registration as a fee payer for a particular tourist accommodation establishment, a unique tourist accommodation code shall be assigned to it. This code further ensures identification of the tourist accommodation establishment and must be mandatorily quoted upon making the fee payment for this accommodation.

The fee must be paid for each night when a tourist or a visitor was registered as a guest at the tourist accommodation establishment. If a person is registered as a guest at the tourist accommodation establishment for more than ten nights, then, starting with the eleventh night, the fee for his or her stay is not subject to payment anymore. We draw your attention that the obligation to pay the fee is not affected if another person pays for the tourist’s stay.

The fee is not payable for

• stay of persons under the age of 18 at the tourist accommodation establishment,
• persons whom accommodation is provided free of charge;
• persons who are employed at the place of accommodation;
• the eleventh and subsequent nights spent at the tourist accommodation establishment if the person stays more than 10 nights at the tourist accommodation establishment;
• persons who stay in the particular premises on the basis of the residential rental agreement or the hostel rental agreement;
• the Ukrainian civilians who exit Ukraine and cannot return to Ukraine due to military conflict caused by the Russian Federation and who are admitted to Latvia free of charge within the framework of the government support.

The fee payer is obliged via e-service until the 20^th date of each calendar month to submit the report on the number of visitors and tourists hosted in the previous month and the calculated fee. The report should specify:

– the period for which the report is submitted;

– the total number of nights spent by visitors or tourists;

– the number of nights spent by visitors or tourists who have not reached the age of 18;

– the number of nights spent by visitors or tourists who have reached the age of 18, exceeding 10 nights of uninterrupted stay;

– the number of nights spent charged with the fee;

– the calculated amount of the fee.

If the fee payer hosts visitors and tourists at several tourist accommodation establishments, then the report should be submitted for each tourist accommodation establishment separately.

If no guests are hosted during a month at the tourist accommodation establishment, the fee payer is likewise obliged to submit the monthly report indicating “0” in the appropriate boxes of the report.

The fee payer every quarter – no later than on April 30^th, July 30^th, October 30^th and January 30^th shall pay the fee calculated for the previous quarter to the municipal budget.

Upon making the payment, the tourist accommodation code must be mandatorily quoted in the section of payment purpose.

The fee payer collects the fee from the visitors and tourists hosted at the accommodation establishment as well as creates the record-keeping register for visitors and tourists.  The fee payer ensures that the tourist record-keeping register is available for each fee payer’s tourist accommodation establishment in which the included information corresponds to the information of the number of visitors and tourists hosted in the previous month and the calculated fees as specified in the submitted report.

The amount of the fee must be indicated separately in the substantiation documents (i.e.in the cheque or receipt).

The fee payer or the representative of the tourist accommodation establishment is obliged to present the tourist record-keeping register and substantiating documents upon request of Riga City Council Municipal Revenue Office or Riga Municipal Police.

If the fee payer temporary suspends hosting the visitors and tourists, then it is possible to continue submission of the monthly reports by indicating “0” in the appropriate boxes of the report without registering the termination of the activity.  In such case the current tourist accommodation code will be preserved for the tourist accommodation establishment.

If the fee payer fully terminates hosting the visitors and tourists, he or she is obliged within 10 working days from termination of the activity via e-service to register the termination of the activity specifying the date when hosting the visitors and tourists is terminated. In such case the previously assigned code for the tourist accommodation establishment will be cancelled and in case of resumption of the activity (i.e. re-registration) a new code for the tourist accommodation establishment will be assigned.