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Since 2019, Airbnb, Booking, Abritel and others have shifted from being mere intermediaries to acting as tax collectors. Collection, detailed reporting, remittance, penalties, single return: here is what the law requires in 2026.
A platform receives a traveller's payment for three nights in a furnished rental in Annecy. It charges the tourist tax along the way. But collecting is not enough: it still has to report it correctly, municipality by municipality, on time and in fine detail. That is exactly where the risks concentrate.
The starting point is Article L. 2333-34 of the French General Local Authorities Code (the “CGCT”, which governs local-authority finances). Two situations must be distinguished.
Collection is mandatory for a platform that provides a booking service and acts as a payment intermediary on behalf of non-professional hosts. This is the typical case of Airbnb when a private individual rents out their home: the platform receives the payment, so it is on the front line. This obligation has applied since 1 January 2019.
Collection is optional where the platform works for professional hosts, or for private individuals without acting as a payment intermediary. It may then collect, but only if the host has authorised it to do so. Otherwise, it is the host who must collect, report and remit.
Key point: what triggers the obligation is not displaying the listing, but receiving the payment on behalf of a non-professional host.
This is the point municipalities scrutinise most. When remitting the tax, the platform files a detailed return, accommodation by accommodation and collection by collection. For each stay it must show: the start date of the stay, the date of collection, the address of the accommodation, the number of guests, the number of nights, the price per night (for unclassified accommodation), the amount of tax collected, the breakdown of any additional taxes and, where applicable, the accommodation's registration number (Article L. 324-1-1 of the French Tourism Code) and any grounds for exemption.
In other words, a lump-sum payment will not do: it is this granularity that lets the municipality check the tax base line by line. And it is what makes the exercise heavy when you operate across hundreds of territories.
Platforms do not follow the same calendar as hosts who collect “directly”. For a platform acting as a payment intermediary, remittance to the municipality's public accountant takes place twice a year, by 30 June and 31 December at the latest. The June payment includes, where applicable, any balance owed for the previous year.
Be careful not to confuse this with the rules applying to individual hosts, which are often more frequent (monthly reporting, quarterly remittance depending on the territory). In Paris, for example, reporting has been monthly since 1 April 2025.
Until recently, a national platform had to file with each of the roughly 1,800 local authorities that levy the tax — an email exchange with hundreds of contacts. Article 129 of the 2024 Finance Act, implemented by Decree no. 2024-612 of 26 June 2024, introduces a simplification.
On an experimental basis, for three years, a platform may file a single return covering the whole country, directly with the tax authority, through the FARITAS service. The platform sends its data once to the DGFiP (the French public finances directorate), which then distributes it among the local authorities. An agreement with the authority is required. Several players already use it (Abritel, Holidu, Cocoonr, etc.).
Two limits: FARITAS covers only the reporting — remittance is still handled in the usual way; and the scheme is optional and temporary.
Article L. 2333-38 of the CGCT sets out a graduated procedure. In the event of failure to report, or absence or late payment, the mayor first sends a formal notice by registered letter. Without regularisation within 30 days, an ex officio assessment is notified, at least 30 days before collection. Late-payment interest of 0.20% per month also applies. Beyond that, several platforms have already been ordered by the courts to pay for defaulting on remittances.
A final, separate but complementary layer: Article 242 bis of the French General Tax Code (the “CGI”). It requires every platform to inform its users, at each transaction, of their tax and social-security obligations, and to provide a link to the relevant authorities' websites. The obligation is not specific to the tourist tax, but it is part of the same movement: turning platforms into a relay of tax transparency.
No, not necessarily. Collection is only required of platforms acting as payment intermediaries for non-professional hosts. Others may collect on an optional basis, if authorised by the host. Otherwise, the host remains responsible.
Twice a year: by 30 June and 31 December at the latest, to the municipality's public accountant (Article L. 2333-34 of the CGCT).
It is the tax authority's service that allows, on an experimental basis, a single national return to be filed instead of reporting authority by authority. It does not remove the remittance obligation.
Formal notice, then ex officio assessment if not regularised within 30 days, and late-payment interest of 0.20% per month (Article L. 2333-38 of the CGCT). Court proceedings are also possible.
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