People traveling to popular health resorts with favorable climatic conditions are more likely to pay a fee for each day of their stay. Hotels, guesthouses and private accommodation will not be able to avoid collecting local and spa fees, and tourists and spa guests will not be able to avoid paying them, as is the case now.
Such changes are provided for in the draft amendment to the Act on local taxes and fees and certain other acts.
— The proposed changes are aimed at improving the collection of fees and eliminating loopholes that potentially allowed the avoidance of these fees – admits Rafał Kran, tax advisor and partner at MDDP.
Experts explain what the effects of these changes will be on tourists, vacationers, as well as municipalities and buyers of used things.
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The Ministry of Finance published the draft changes (UD372) on Monday evening.
Today, local and spa fees are voluntary, which means that municipal councils decide whether such fees will be charged.
The problem is that – as Rafał Kran admits – the rules regarding these fees, and especially their enforcement, are ineffective.
— Current problems with fee collection may discourage municipal councils from introducing these fees – admits prof. Rafał Dowgier from the Department of Tax Law at the University of Białystok. The main point – explains the professor – is that municipalities have limited possibilities to mobilize entities providing services related to accommodation (e.g. entities running hotels, guesthouses, accommodation owners) to collect fees. In turn, tourists and spa guests, despite their obligation, are often not interested in making payments. Municipal tax authorities, in turn, had problems with tracing these people.
The draft amendment aims to change this.
– The proposed changes are aimed at improving the collection of fees and eliminating loopholes that potentially allowed the avoidance of these fees – admits Rafał Kran.
Let's add that Currently, local and spa fees are obliged to be paid by persons staying longer than a day for tourist, recreation or training purposes in three types of towns:
— having favorable climatic properties and landscape values,
— which have been granted the status of a spa protection area and
— health resorts.
Therefore, it is important not only that someone went, for example, to a health resort and stays there overnight, but also why they went there (tourist, recreational, training purposes).
Who should collect local and spa fees and according to what rules?
The project assumes significant changes.
Municipal councils will still decide whether the fee will be collected in their area. It will still matter whether the commune has favorable climatic properties, landscape values or the status of a health resort.
However, the obligation to pay will apply to persons to whom accommodation services are provided in such places for a period of at least one night.
The obligation to pay the local fee and the resort fee will therefore be associated with accommodation in the following hotel facilities: motels, hotels, guesthouses, campsites, excursion homes, youth hostels, shelters, camping sites, as well as in other facilities where hotel services can be provided (e.g. private accommodation) and with accommodation in the above-mentioned spa treatment facilities. The fee will depend on the number of nights.
It will not matter why the person came to such a town.
People who come for a stay longer than 30 days will be exempt from fees. As Rafał Kran adds, people staying in their own holiday homes will not be subject to any fees at all.
Although the fees will be collected by the same entities (accommodation service providers), their status will change – they will be payers and not collectors as currently. — The difference is fundamental because it concerns the extension of liability for failure to collect a fee. Currently, when the collector did not collect the fee, the commune could not do anything about it – emphasizes Rafał Dowgier.
As Rafał Kran explains, after the changes, if a guesthouse or hotel does not collect the fee, they may be in tax arrears, so the commune will be able to demand payment of the fees even though the amounts have not been collected from guests.
— There will also be a statutory obligation to keep registers of guests subject to a fee, as well as those exempt from this obligation (e.g. disabled ones) – adds Rafał Kran.
What do the changes mean for tourists, patients and municipalities
– From the tourist's point of view, little will actually change unless the Council of Ministers changes the regulation specifying the climatic and landscape conditions on which the local fee depends – says Prof. Rafał Dowgier. He explains that the current regulation introduces quite restrictive requirements related to, for example, air cleanliness standards, which means that some typically tourist cities (e.g. Kraków) do not meet the conditions for collecting a local fee. – Relaxing these standards could mean that the fee will be collected in more places – says prof. Dowgier. However, there are no such plans for now.
As Rafał Kran adds, after the changes, it can be expected that accommodation facilities will pay more attention to collecting the fee. — It cannot be ruled out that the amendment will contribute to the popularization of fees in tourist communes – admits Rafał Kran.
Experts agree that the changes provided for in the project will encourage municipalities to introduce local and spa fees. More municipalities will also want to introduce them.
— Basically, the changes should not have a significant impact on tourists or spa visitors, but should increase the efficiency of fee collection. In my opinion, they will be paid by those people who have not paid them so far – despite such an obligation. The payers, i.e. entities providing accommodation services, will be responsible for the assessment, collection and transfer of fees. This should translate into an increase in municipalities' income in this respect – says prof. Rafał Dowgier.
— It cannot be ruled out that the amendment will contribute to the popularization of fees in tourist communes – agrees Rafał Kran.
What will be the local and resort fee rates?
Let us add that in principle the fee rates will be slightly higher than currently.
Today (in 2026) the maximum toll rates are:
— local — PLN 3.46 per day,
— in local areas with the status of a health resort protection area, it is PLN 4.89 per day,
— spa resort – PLN 6.67 per day.
According to the project, the maximum rates are to be PLN 6 and PLN 86 per person per night for the resort fee and PLN 5 and PLN 3 for the local fee.
What will be the changes in the tax on the purchase of used things?
The same project also provides for changes to the PCC. The tax-free purchase limit is to be increased from the current 1,000. PLN up to PLN 3,000 zloty.
The Ministry of Finance wants to raise the limit because collecting tax on such small amounts (the tax on the minimum amount exceeding PLN 1,000 is only slightly over PLN 20) is simply unprofitable.
Read more about changes in PCC: Do you buy used items from private individuals? The rules are changing now
Author: Łukasz Zalewski, journalist of the Law section, Business Insider Polska
