Short Stay Levy for Victorian Properties (AU) (BETA)

Since January 1, 2025, a 7.5% tax has been applied to all stays of less than 28 consecutive days. The levy includes the total booking amount (e.g., cleaning fees, GST) but excludes credit card fees.

Levy application

The levy is exempt for properties that are your Principal Place of Residence (PPR). It applies to entire homes, private rooms (non-PPR), granny flats, tiny homes, and similar types of accommodations. Hotels and motels are not affected by the levy.
For more information about the levy, visit the Victorian State Revenue Office website.

Levy collection on Lodgify

For direct bookings on your Lodgify website, you will need to create a tax corresponding to the levy for your properties in Victoria. Once created, the levy will be applied to the bookings, and you will be responsible for remitting it to the Victorian State Revenue Office (SRO).

To ensure the levy is correctly applied to your bookings, follow these steps:

1. Register on the Victorian SRO portal.
2. On Lodgify, go to your left-hand menu and select Rentals.
3. Select the rental that you want to create the tax for, and select Pricing.
4. Scroll down to the Taxes section and click the pen icon next to the Lodging Tax tax type. 
5. Choose the percentage Calculation Model and enter the value 7.5%.
6. Click Save. Taxes are configured per rental only, so repeat steps 3–5 for each of your rentals in Victoria.
7. If you have additional fees (e.g., cleaning fees), open each fee’s settings and make sure the levy is also applied there, since the levy applies to the total booking amount.
8. If you are connected to Airbnb, Vrbo, and/or Booking.com, follow these instructions.

For further information on how to configure taxes in Lodgify, check out this article.

⚠️ Important: Since taxes cannot be restricted by a specific number of nights, this levy will apply to all bookings, including those of 28 days or more. Be sure to remove the levy from the quote and refund the guest if you receive bookings of 28 days or more.

Levy collection on OTAs

Airbnb: The platform collects the levy directly from guests at the time of booking and remits it to the Victorian State Revenue Office (SRO). If you are connected to Airbnb and have set up the levy for your Lodgify website, follow these instructions.

Vrbo and Expedia: The levy is managed on Vrbo and Expedia's side. We advise you to check directly with them for specific details. If you are connected to Vrbo and have set up the levy for your Lodgify website, follow these instructions.

Booking.com: The levy is managed on Booking.com's side. We advise you to check directly with them for specific details. If you are connected to Booking.com and have set up the levy for your Lodgify website, follow these instructions.

Levy management for Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com

If your rentals are connected to Airbnb, Vrbo, and/or Booking.com, and you're creating a tax in Lodgify (such as the Short Stay Victoria Levy), make sure the tax is not sent to the OTAs, to avoid duplicate charges.

Follow these steps to exclude the OTAs from this tax:

1. Go to your left-hand menu and select Rentals.
2. Select the rental and select Pricing.
3. In the Taxes section, click the pen icon next to the Lodging tax you created.
   
4. Enable Custom setup per channel.
5. Set the amount to 0 for Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com.
   
6. Click Save.

💡 Note: You can check which taxes are sent to each channel from the Pricing page — click the tax to see the channel logos: an arrow means the item is sent to that channel, a cross means it is not.