Croatian property tax: the bill, appeals, instalments and deadlines

Who pays property tax

The tax is paid by whoever owns the property on 31 March: Croatian or foreign, a person or a company (Local Taxes Act, Art. 25). Since 1 January 2025 it has replaced the holiday-home tax, and every city and municipality levies it at €0.60 to €8 per m². In Zagreb the Tax Administration (Porezna uprava) assesses and collects it: €5 per m² for 2025 and 2026, and €8 per m² from 1 January 2027.

Among other exemptions, you don't pay it for a flat someone lives in permanently or one let as a permanent home for at least 10 months of the year. All the conditions and a calculator are in our guide to the 2027 tax on empty flats. Garages and other auxiliary spaces, unbuilt building land, and a flat on which the communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary is paid at the business-premises rate aren't taxed.

The tax can't be passed on to a tenant. The Tax Administration says the rule on who owes the tax is mandatory, so the duty to pay property taxProperty tax (porez na nekretnine)simplifiedA yearly local tax per m² of useful floor area on homes not used for permanent living. In Zagreb it's €8 per m² from 1 January 2027 (€5 in 2026).Source: Zakon o lokalnim porezima (NN 115/16 … 152/24), čl. 26., 27. i 49., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary can't be transferred to the tenant by contract.

Reporting by 31 March: who must, and who needn't

Most owners don't need to report anything. The Tax Administration gets its data from the city (the communal feeCommunal fee (komunalna naknada)simplifiedA public charge paid to the City for maintaining communal infrastructure, per m² of useful floor area. The owner pays it unless a written contract moves it to the tenant.Source: Zakon o komunalnom gospodarstvu (NN 68/18 … 145/24), čl. 93. i 94., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary), from the OIBOIB (personal identification number)Croatia's personal identification number, a permanent identifier used in official records. Croatians get it at birth; foreigners when there's a reason to.Source: Porezna uprava: Osobni identifikacijski broj (OIB), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary register with registered addresses, from the property-transactions register and from reported leases. You report nothing if the communal fee is paid on the property and the data is right, or if the lease has been reported to the Tax Administration.

You report changes and evidence for an exemption by 31 March if:

• someone lives in the flat permanently without a registered address there;
• the flat is let as a permanent home and the lease hasn't been reported to the Tax Administration, which is possible when the landlord is a company or other legal entity (an individual landlord has to report the lease anyway);
• the property was hit by a declared natural disaster, or can't be lived in because it has no infrastructure;
• the property is in public use or used for institutional accommodation, or a company holds it for sale or took it over for an unpaid debt less than six months before 31 March;
• its floor area or use has changed and you haven't reported that to the city for the communal fee.

The form is the Tax Administration's “Zahtjev za građane”. You file it in ePorezna, where it has been available since 24 February 2025, or on paper at the Tax Administration office for the property's area. There's no fee.

Not reporting changes or evidence when you must is a misdemeanour with a fine of €1,000 to €6,630 (Local Taxes Act, Art. 56).

The bill: when it comes and how to pay

The Tax Administration issues one decision (rješenje) per calendar year, based on the property's situation on 31 March. None is issued for an exempt property, and changes during the year count from the next year. The law sets no date for issuing them: the 2025 bills went out in rounds, and on 23 February 2026 the Tax Administration said it had started the second round.

You pay within 15 days of delivery. An appeal doesn't postpone payment (Local Taxes Act, Art. 49).

The decision is delivered in person. If the postman misses you twice and leaves a notice, it counts as delivered 15 days later. ePorezna users get it in their e-inbox, and it counts as delivered when opened or at the latest 7 days after it arrives.

Paying to the City of Zagreb:

• IBAN: HR7810010051713314004
• model: HR67
• reference (poziv na broj): your OIBOIB (personal identification number)Croatia's personal identification number, a permanent identifier used in official records. Croatians get it at birth; foreigners when there's a reason to.Source: Porezna uprava: Osobni identifikacijski broj (OIB), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary

Appealing the bill

You can appeal within 30 days of receiving the decision (General Tax Act, Art. 180). The appeal is addressed to the Ministry of Finance's second-instance department but handed in to the Tax Administration: in person, by registered post, or orally on record. If you file it in time with the wrong body, it doesn't count as late. There's no fee.

What to write:

1. 1Your name, address and OIBOIB (personal identification number)Croatia's personal identification number, a permanent identifier used in official records. Croatians get it at birth; foreigners when there's a reason to.Source: Porezna uprava: Osobni identifikacijski broj (OIB), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary.
2. 2Which decision you're appealing: its reference number (klasa) and date.
3. 3Why it's wrong, for example the wrong floor area, a property that wasn't yours on 31 March, or a reason for an exemption.
4. 4Evidence: the lease, a residence certificate, the purchase contract and so on.
5. 5Your signature, or an electronic signature if you file electronically.

The Tax Administration can grant the appeal itself and issue a new decision. Otherwise it sends it to the Ministry, which should decide within two months. Against the Ministry's decision you can bring an administrative lawsuit within 30 days. If the decision is annulled or reduced, the overpayment is refunded with interest from the day you paid.

For an obvious mistake, such as someone else's property or the wrong area, you can also send the Tax Administration an objection (prigovor) through ePorezna, by e-mail, by post or in person, with your OIB, name, the decision's klasa, the reason and your contact. The Tax Administration advises filing an appeal within the legal deadline anyway.

Even while an appeal is pending, the tax must be paid on time. Because of errors in the 2025 bills, the Tax Administration exceptionally announced in March 2026 that for people who had filed an objection or appeal there would be no interest or enforcement until the bill was annulled, and no need to pay while their case was checked. On 31 August 2026 it restated that neither an objection nor an appeal postpones payment.

Instalments, write-off and enforcement

A tax that's due can be paid in instalments under an administrative agreement (upravni ugovor) with the Tax Administration, over up to 24 months (General Tax Act, Art. 101). You send a proposal with a repayment plan and your reasons; debts up to €10,000 need no security. Interest keeps running meanwhile. The Tax Administration can turn the proposal down, and an agreement isn't possible if your account is blocked by other creditors, and if you miss instalments, the Tax Administration ends it.

If collecting the tax would threaten your basic living needs, the debt can be written off in full or in part on a written, reasoned request (Art. 148).

Unpaid tax is collected by enforcement, with the decision as the enforcement titleEnforcement (ovrha)simplifiedCourt proceedings that force an obligation to be met, such as paying a debt or moving out. They rest on an enforcement title or, for money claims, an authentic document.Source: Ovršni zakon (NN 112/12 … 06/24), čl. 13., 23., 31. i 255., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary. Debts under €30 aren't enforced on an account, and under €135 not on movable or real property.

Late interest and limitation

Late interest runs from the due date, that is from day 16 after delivery, and no interest is charged on interest. The General Tax Act refers to a separate regulation without naming it; for late public revenue, the professional press uses the Obligations Act rate: the ECB reference rate plus 3 percentage points. For 1 July to 31 December 2026 that's 5.40% a year (2.40 + 3). On €400 paid 60 days late that comes to about €3.55 (our arithmetic).

The right to assess, collect and refund the tax expires after six years (General Tax Act, Art. 108). For the 2025 tax, the limitation period for assessing it starts on 1 January 2026 and ends at the end of 2031 (our arithmetic). It doesn't run during an administrative agreement or court proceedings, and tax paid after it has expired can be reclaimed.

If you live abroad

Foreign owners pay the same tax and get the same exemptions. You need an OIBOIB (personal identification number)Croatia's personal identification number, a permanent identifier used in official records. Croatians get it at birth; foreigners when there's a reason to.Source: Porezna uprava: Osobni identifikacijski broj (OIB), checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary, the Croatian personal identification number: you get it at a Tax Administration office, and EU citizens with e-Citizens (e-Građani) credentials can also apply online.

Decisions are sent abroad by registered mail with return receipt, through the foreign tax authority or a Croatian embassy or consulate. If you appoint an agent (opunomoćenik), decisions are delivered only to them. The General Administrative Procedure Act requires a person abroad who starts a procedure to appoint an agent for receiving documents in Croatia; whether the Tax Administration applies that to exemption requests and appeals, we couldn't confirm.

From abroad you pay to the same IBAN, with model HR67 and your OIB as the reference. Check the SWIFT/BIC with your bank or the Tax Administration.

What comes in 2027

From 1 January 2027 the rate in Zagreb is €8 per m². The 2027 tax follows the property's situation on 31 March 2027, so report changes and evidence for an exemption by then. The law sets no date for the 2027 bills.

A long-term letLong-term letting (dugoročni najam)simplifiedLetting a flat as someone's home under the Housing Lease Act. It also decides the property-tax exemption: the flat must be let for at least ten months of the year.Source: Zakon o lokalnim porezima (NN 115/16 … 152/24), čl. 27., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary exempts the flat if it's let for at least 10 months in 2027, the lease is reported to the Tax Administration and the tenant has a registered address there. The arithmetic and conditions are in our guide to the tax on empty flats.

Frequently asked questions