Tourist Tax in Matosinhos Portugal: Rules and How to Pay

If you operate an Alojamento Local (AL), holiday rental, guesthouse, hostel, hotel or other tourist accommodation in the Municipality of Matosinhos, you are responsible for collecting and reporting the local Taxa Municipal Turística.

Here is what hosts need to know in 2026.

How much is the tourist tax in Matosinhos?

For normal tourist accommodation and Alojamento Local, the tourist tax is:

The €2 rate applies to paid stays in hotels, tourist apartments, rural tourism properties, houses, apartments, hostels, B&Bs and other registered Alojamento Local within the Municipality of Matosinhos. That means the maximum tourist tax for one non-exempt guest staying in a standard AL is €14 per stay.

For example, two adults staying for five nights would pay:

2 guests × 5 nights × €2 = €20 tourist tax.

If those same two guests stayed for ten consecutive nights, only the first seven nights would be charged:

2 guests × 7 nights × €2 = €28 tourist tax.

Who has to pay?

The tax generally applies to guests who are 16 years old or over. Someone turning 16 during the stay is subject to the tax from their 16th birthday under the municipality's rules.

There are, however, several exemptions.

Guests do not have to pay where the stay is connected with certain medical treatment, with the exemption also extending to one accompanying person. People with a certified disability of at least 60% and one accompanying person may also be exempt. Other exemptions cover people staying because of eviction or comparable displacement, residents of the Municipality of Matosinhos, certain people temporarily placed in accommodation by public social services, and qualifying displaced people or asylum seekers. Reservations made and invoiced directly to the Municipality of Matosinhos are also exempt.

Following the 2025 amendment, long-term users of pitches or equipment at campsites and caravan parks with a rental or usage arrangement of three months or more are also excluded from the tax.

Hosts should obtain the appropriate evidence when an exemption is claimed. The regulation requires relevant exemption documents to be retained for one year, while respecting GDPR and collecting only the data necessary for the purpose.

What changed for day-use accommodation?

There is an important change for businesses offering rooms on a day-use or hourly basis.

Under the amended regulation, the tourist tax applies to day-use or “by hours” accommodation lasting four hours or more. Stays of less than four hours were specifically excluded by the amendment that entered into force on 31 December 2025.

For most conventional holiday rentals this will make little practical difference, but it is worth knowing if your property offers short daytime stays.

Hosts are responsible for collecting the tax

The tourist tax is charged to the guest, but the accommodation operator is responsible for calculating it, collecting it and transferring it to the Municipality of Matosinhos.

The regulation allows the operator to collect the tax at the beginning, during or at the end of the stay.

This is particularly important for Airbnb, Booking.com and other OTA reservations. Do not assume that because the booking was made online the municipality automatically receives the tourist tax. You need to know whether your booking channel is actually collecting and remitting it for your particular property and municipality; otherwise, the legal responsibility remains with the accommodation operator.

How should the tourist tax appear on the invoice?

The amount should appear separately from the accommodation price.

The Municipality recommends identifying it as “Taxa Municipal Turística”, “Town Tax” or “Taxe de Séjour”. It can either appear as a separate line on the accommodation invoice or be invoiced separately.

Most importantly, the tourist tax itself is not subject to VAT.

The municipality also states that the tax is municipal revenue rather than income belonging to the accommodation operator. Its FAQ notes that the relevant invoicing and accounting requirements, including SAF-T where applicable, still need to be observed.

Hosts should confirm the exact accounting treatment with their accountant or certified accountant, particularly where several booking platforms and payment methods are involved.

You need to register on the Matosinhos tourist-tax portal

Matosinhos operates a dedicated online platform for tourist-tax administration.

New accommodation operators must register their entity and add their accommodation to the system. For a newly registered Alojamento Local, the regulation gives the operator 30 days following the allocation of the RNAL registration number to register the entity/property on the tourist-tax platform.

The registration page asks you to submit your entity details. After submission, the Municipality reviews the request and sends an email confirming that it is being processed. A further email is then sent with the result and instructions for the next steps.

Register on the official Matosinhos Tourist Tax portal

If you manage several AL properties in Matosinhos, each accommodation unit should be associated with your account in the platform. Changes to your accommodation details should also be reflected there, and a cessation of AL activity must be recorded in the tourist-tax platform within 10 days of occurring.

Tourist-tax declarations are quarterly

Unlike municipalities where declarations are made monthly, Matosinhos uses a quarterly reporting system.

The declaration deadlines are:

You declare the amount collected through the municipality's tourist-tax platform. Once the Municipality makes the Multibanco reference or equivalent payment information available, the declared amount must be transferred to the Municipality within 30 days.

This is worth putting into your property-management calendar. Missing a declaration is much easier than missing a booking, particularly for hosts who only receive a few reservations during a quarter.

Matosinhos also provides a 2.5% collection commission

One unusual feature of Matosinhos' system is that accommodation operators can receive a collection commission equal to 2.5% of the tourist tax collected.

The commission is itself subject to VAT, and operators can choose to waive it. Claiming the commission requires the appropriate registration and invoicing procedure with the Municipality.

The Municipality's FAQ also refers to additional activity/CAE requirements for operators wishing to invoice this collection service, so this is an area where it is sensible to check the latest instructions in the portal and confirm the treatment with your accountant before issuing an invoice.

What happens if a host does not comply?

Registration and reporting should not be treated as optional.

Failure to register the operator or accommodation on the platform can result in fines ranging from €500 to €10,000 for an individual and €1,000 to €40,000 for a company.

The regulation also provides penalties for inaccurate declarations, failing to transfer collected tourist tax, late transfers, failing to retain exemption documentation and failing to report cessation of activity. Unpaid amounts can ultimately be pursued through tax enforcement proceedings.

A practical workflow for Matosinhos hosts

A simple process can prevent most tourist-tax problems:

1. Register your AL on the Matosinhos tourist-tax portal and make sure every property you operate appears in your account. Configure your PMS, booking system or spreadsheet to identify guests aged 16+, the number of taxable nights and any exemptions. Tell guests before arrival that the Matosinhos tourist tax is separate from the accommodation price where it has not already been collected through their booking channel. At check-in or check-out, collect the correct amount and issue the appropriate invoice or receipt showing the tourist tax separately and without VAT. Keep any documents supporting exemptions securely for the required period. Finally, reconcile the tax collected every quarter, submit the declaration by the municipal deadline and pay the amount once the Municipality issues the payment reference.

For hosts with multiple properties, automating that calculation and reconciliation in your property-management system can save significant administrative work.

The bottom line for hosts in Matosinhos

For most Alojamento Local operators, the rule to remember is straightforward:

€2 per guest aged 16 or over, per night, for a maximum of seven consecutive nights per stay.

But collecting the money is only one part of compliance. You also need to register your accommodation, identify exemptions correctly, invoice the tax separately, keep the required supporting records, submit quarterly declarations and transfer the money to the Municipality.

The rules have already been amended once since their introduction, so hosts should use the Municipality's portal and the Diário da República regulations as their primary sources rather than relying on older articles or screenshots circulating online. The current amendment has been in force since 31 December 2025.