Airbnb and Short-Term Rentals in Montenegro: Legal Registration, Tourist Tax, and Management

To rent out an apartment on Airbnb as a short-term let in Montenegro, you need to complete three things: a hospitality approval from the local self-government (odobrenje), classification of the property (kategorizacija), and registration in the Central Tourist Registry (Centralni turistički registar). After that, you collect the boravišna taksa for every guest, report their stay, and declare your rental income. Being a foreigner is not an obstacle; no separate investment permit is required, and you do not have to physically live in the property.

This article walks through the process step by step for owners who manage remotely. The figures and terms are given as they appear in the original Montenegrin legislation; because municipalities set their own rules (propis), the details vary by region.

What is turistički najam, and who can do it?

Montenegrin law recognises household tourist accommodation (ugostiteljska djelatnost u domaćinstvu) as a distinct category. A natural person can rent their own property directly to tourists without setting up a full commercial company. Under the Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu, accommodation can be offered up to the ceiling set by the law (a limited number of rooms and beds for natural persons). Because the exact capacity ceiling is cited with small discrepancies between the text of the law and current professional sources, if you are planning a larger property, have a lawyer confirm the number of rooms and ležaj (beds).

For those wanting a larger scale or a corporate structure, there are two more routes: a preduzetnik (sole trader, often on a flat-rate/paušal tax) or a DOO (limited liability company). Both require registration with the Central Register of Business Entities (Centralni registar privrednih subjekata, CRPS) and a PIB (tax number). Most hosts renting a single apartment, however, stay natural persons.

Which structure suits you depends on how many properties you run and your annual income. For a single apartment and modest turnover, natural-person status carries the least bureaucracy. If you run several properties, have consistently high occupancy, or want a corporate accounting setup around your income, a preduzetnik or DOO may be more predictable; but that means bookkeeping and regular filing obligations. For a DOO, corporate income tax in Montenegro runs on a graduated scale based on the profit bracket, and the bracket that applies to tourist rentals specifically should be confirmed separately. Before deciding, the soundest approach is to compare both scenarios (natural person vs. company) with real numbers.

Legal registration: odobrenje, kategorizacija, CTR

The process runs roughly in this order:

• Step: Odobrenje · What: Approval for household hospitality activity · Where: Local self-government — Sekretarijat za privredu
• Step: Kategorizacija · What: Classification of the property against minimum technical requirements · Where: The same secretariat / authorised commission
• Step: CTR registration · What: Registration in the Central Tourist Registry · Where: Ministarstvo / ctr.gov.me

An odobrenje application generally asks for a declaration that the minimum technical requirements (minimalno-tehnički uslovi) are met, a title deed no older than six months (list nepokretnosti), an occupancy or building permit, and ID/passport. By law, the procedure concludes within 15 days. The administrative fee stays at the level of a few euros: typically around €10 in administrativna taksa plus a commission of a similar amount, though the figure varies by municipality.

The validity period of the kategorizacija depends on the property's documentation status. For properties with an occupancy permit (upotrebna dozvola), the period is longer; for those holding only a building permit or a legalisation request, it is kept shorter, and some sources foresee renewal every few years. Confirm the exact period with the competent secretariat based on your property's documents.

Once registered with the CTR, you are expected to keep the registration certificate at the property, post the price list and house rules, and maintain a certified guest/complaints book. These documents can be requested during inspections. For owners managing remotely, this is often the first point of friction: tasks such as posting documents, keeping the book, and recording guest check-ins have to be done physically, on site, by someone. So even after registration is finished, someone needs to be on the ground to post the documents, keep the book, and record guest arrivals. This is not a one-and-done job; it continues every season.

Boravišna taksa: the tourist tax

The boravišna taksa (accommodation/tourist tax) is a fixed per-guest, per-night amount (paušalni iznos). The legal range is roughly €0.10 to €1.00 per person per night; in tourist municipalities, the typical amount for an adult is around €1.00/night. Each municipality sets the exact figure by a council decision (odluka).

Discounts and exemptions work by age: children under 12 are free, and those aged 12–18 are generally on a half rate (about €0.50). The accommodation provider, i.e. the host, collects the taksa from the guest and remits it to the local tourist organisation/municipality.

Over 2025–2026, the system has largely gone digital. Instead of the old paper card, the guest now receives a potvrda (receipt) from an electronic system. Because the details of how this works vary by municipality and the software in use, the safest step is to check the portal of the turistička organizacija your property falls under.

Guest reporting: prijava boravka

The accommodation provider is obliged to report the guest's stay (especially foreign guests) to the competent tourist organisation/police within 12 hours. The report is filed through the electronic applications of the local tourist organisations; municipalities such as Bar, Tivat, and Nikšić have their own prijava boravka portals.

If a foreign guest is staying without using any provider's service (for example, in their own property), under the Zakon o strancima they must report themselves within 24 hours. In practice, as an Airbnb host the burden falls on you: you have to enter every new guest into the system on time.

Skipping the report may look like a minor delay on paper, but the consequences compound. Failing to report a guest to the registry means the boravišna taksa for that stay goes unpaid and the rental income stays off the books; that creates problems with both the municipality and the tax administration (Poreska uprava).

Taxation of rental income

Rental income earned as a natural person is taxed as prihod od imovine (income from property). In Montenegro, the income tax rate on rental income is 15%; if the paying party is a legal entity or a preduzetnik, they withhold and remit the tax at this rate. When calculating the tax base, a standard deduction (normirani troškovi) is applied: for renting rooms/apartments/holiday homes to tourists, this expense allowance is applied at roughly 50%, meaning the tax can be calculated on half of the gross income.

A word of caution here: in circulation you will also see a different rate (9%) and a different base; this is most likely a holdover from the old flat rate before 2022. Because rates change with reforms, clarify the exact rate and expense method that applies to you with an accountant or lawyer. If you have income or tax liability in more than one country, consulting an expert opinion such as RoNa Legal's international tax planning service to get double taxation and the order of filing right makes sense, so you avoid surprises at year end.

Keep both thresholds in mind. The VAT (PDV) registration threshold is €30,000 per year; small izdavaoci below this stay outside the VAT system (VAT may still be passed on via the platform commission). In addition, under a regulation taking effect in 2026, there is a move to require platforms such as Booking and Airbnb to report transactions to the Poreska uprava and retain the records for ten years; in other words, the visibility of income is increasing.

What foreign owners should watch for

Foreigners can run short-term rentals in Montenegro and do not have to physically live in the property. It is enough to be an owner or co-owner and to complete the registration process (odobrenje + kategorizacija + CTR); no separate special permit for investment/second homes is required.

It is worth separating a frequently confused point: a rental permit and a residence permit are different things. With the November 2025 amendment to the Zakon o strancima, obtaining or renewing a temporary residence permit through real estate now requires the property value to be at least €200,000. That is a residence-permit condition; it has nothing to do with your ability to rent the apartment on Airbnb. Tax and boravišna taksa obligations, meanwhile, make no distinction between foreigner and local; what matters is the location of the property.

If you are still looking for a property, you can browse fijaka.com's real estate category to get a sense of regions and price ranges; comparing location and budget listing by listing makes it easier to plan the registration and tax burden from the outset.

Remote management: the operations side

For a host who has completed registration, the daily load comes less from legislation and more from operations: check-in and key handover, cleaning and turnover between guest changes, laundry, small maintenance jobs, guest communication, and filing the prijava boravka on time at every arrival. For an owner managing from abroad, a reliable base to handle these on site is essential.

Glatko has an Airbnb management category for these needs. The cleaning and general maintenance side is more crowded: as of 15 July 2026, there are 41 verified professionals registered on the platform, 16 of whom speak Turkish, with a median of 10 years' experience. (These figures are Glatko's own platform data and should not be read as a market statistic.) For a host managing remotely, a team that can speak Turkish and handle regular turnover cleaning is often the most critical piece.

If you want to arrange cleaning or maintenance before the next guest checks out, you can create a service request through Glatko.