NextStay

Crna Gora·Destination guide · Southern Europe

Montenegro

42.4247° N · Southern Europe · EU candidate · not EU · not Schengen

Montenegro still runs guest check-in through the police clock — 12 hours for foreigners — not an EU eVisitor clone.

Under Zakon o strancima (arts. 97–99), accommodation providers must register and deregister foreign guests with the police within 12 hours of arrival, preferably by electronic transmission; household and rural-household hosts may also file via the local tourist organisation without a separate police “no technical means” certificate. Separately, Zakon o boravišnoj taksi art. 7b requires notice of tourist arrival to the local tourist organisation (or tourist information bureau) within 24 hours, and deregistration within 24 hours of departure. Private household letting needs a rješenje on CTR entry under Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu art. 100 (≤10 rooms / 20 beds for natural persons) before advertising. Montenegro is an EU candidate country — not an EU Member State and not in Schengen — so GDPR and Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 are not Montenegrin law.

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NextStay relevance · Montenegro

5 / 5

Essential

Zakon o strancima requires hosts to report foreign guests to the police within 12 hours (electronic filing, or LTO / written form where allowed) — on top of Zakon o boravišnoj taksi’s 24-hour tourist notice to the local tourist organisation, household CTR entry under Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu (≤10 rooms / 20 beds), and municipal boravišna taksa (Kotor €1.00 / person / day; Budva / Podgorica confirm locally).

At a glance · Montenegro

  • Police (foreigners)

    ≤ 12h from arrival

  • LTO tourist notice

    ≤ 24h (boravišna)

  • Household licence

    CTR rješenje

  • Kotor tax

    €1.00 / night

Who this is for

What hosts and hotels actually need to know

Montenegrin short-stay compliance is a dual clock plus a licensing gate — not Serbia’s eTurista platform (that name belongs next door) and not Croatia’s eVisitor. First, identity and police filing: for foreign guests, Zakon o strancima art. 97 sets a 12-hour arrival duty on the davalac smještaja, with electronic filing as the default (art. 99) and a host guest register retained two years (art. 98); the host must verify guest data against the travel document (art. 97(7)). Montenegrin citizens using commercial lodging sit under Zakon o registrima prebivališta i boravišta art. 25 — also a 12-hour police clock. Second, tourist-organisation notice and boravišna taksa: art. 7b of Zakon o boravišnoj taksi adds a 24-hour arrival/departure notice to the LTO on whose territory the stay occurs; the sojourn tax itself is collected with the lodging charge, remitted on a twice-monthly rhythm, and set by each opština within the national €0.10–€1.00 band (Kotor’s published municipal decision is €1.00). Third, licensing: the in-force Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu (SL CG 2/2018 and amendments — not the repealed 2010 Tourism Act) requires household hosts to hold a rješenje on CTR entry (art. 100(6)), within a natural-person cap of ten rooms / 20 beds or a camp of at most 15 units / 30 persons (art. 100(1)), meet art. 101 display / guest-book / monthly statistics duties (by the 10th), and satisfy art. 8’s advertising gate. Self check-in works when the identity fields needed for police / LTO filing are captured before access is released — a lockbox code is not a substitute for either clock.

Front desk or digital, the duty is unchanged: every foreign overnight guest is filed with the police within 12 hours, tourists are notified to the LTO within 24 hours, and boravišna taksa is collected and remitted at the municipal rate.

  • 01Register and deregister foreign guests with the police within 12 hours (electronic channel by default)
  • 02Keep the statutory guest register for foreigners for two years and produce it when the police ask
  • 03Notify the local tourist organisation of tourist arrivals within 24 hours and deregister within 24 hours of departure
  • 04Collect boravišna taksa with the stay charge, show it on the invoice, and remit on the statutory payment rhythm

Chapter · Police filing

Foreign-guest registration — 12 hours

Zakon o strancima arts. 97–99 put the foreign-guest filing duty on the accommodation provider: report to the police within 12 hours of arrival, keep a two-year register, and prefer electronic transmission.

Statute

“Prijava i odjava iz stava 1 ovog člana, podnosi se policiji u mjestu u kojem se prijavljuje boravak stranca, u roku od 12 časova od dolaska, na propisanim obrascima, u skladu sa članom 99 ovog zakona.”
Zakon o strancima, art. 97(2) (Službeni list CG 12/2018, as amended) [01]
  1. 01

    Who must file for foreign guests

    When a foreigner uses a davalac smještaja, the host — not the guest — must submit registration and deregistration under art. 97. The statutory definition of davalac smještaja covers tourism and hospitality operators and other persons who, for consideration, accommodate people. Guests must give the host the identity and travel-document fields in art. 96(8); the host must verify them against the travel document (art. 97(7)).

    [01][02][03]
  2. 02

    Electronic first — LTO fallback for household hosts

    Art. 99 requires electronic delivery by default. If technical means are lacking, filing may go through the tourist organisation or in writing on the prescribed form — after the police issue a “no technical means” potvrda (the MUP Pravilnik states that potvrda is issued for one year). Household and rural-household providers may file electronically or via the tourist organisation without that potvrda (art. 99(4)). Do not invent a national “eTourist” brand name for Montenegro; electronic filing is the MUP / Police Directorate channel (operationally described as Registar boravka do 90 dana), with LTO systems feeding the same public-security layer. gov.me’s MUP foreigners pages publish Obrazac 1 / Obrazac 2 and the electronic-filing uputstvo for hosts.

    [01][03][02]
  3. 03

    Host register — retain two years

    Art. 98 requires the host to keep a register of foreigners accommodated, with the data from art. 97(3), accurate and available for police inspection. Retain entries for two years from entry, then delete. A passport photo dump without the statutory fields does not meet the duty.

    [01]
  4. 04

    Montenegrin citizens — separate 12-hour clock

    Zakon o registrima prebivališta i boravišta art. 25 requires the host to register and deregister Montenegrin citizens provided with accommodation within 12 hours of arrival, electronically where possible, otherwise via the LTO or written form. Keep a citizen guest register for police inspection. Do not assume foreigner-only forms cover domestic guests.

    [04]

Chapter · Licence

Household CTR entry, categorisation & advertising

Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu (SL CG 2/2018 and amendments) makes Centralni turistički registar entry the gate to household accommodation — separate from, and in addition to, guest-filing duties. Do not rely on the repealed 2010 Tourism Act’s seven-room / odobrenje article numbers.

  1. 01

    CTR rješenje before advertising

    Art. 100(1) treats ugostiteljske usluge u domaćinstvu for natural persons as lodging in rooms, tourist apartments, flats and holiday houses up to ten rooms or 20 beds, or a camp of at most 15 accommodation units / 30 persons at once. Art. 100(6) says those services may be provided on the basis of a rješenje on entry in the Centralni turistički registar under arts. 77–78 — issued by the competent local-authority body (ministry desk for larger / certain rural tracks). Companies, other legal persons and entrepreneurs may also operate in the household track under art. 100(2) where they own/co-own the capacity. Exceeding the household ceilings pushes the activity into the ordinary ugostitelj regime. Local forms (e.g. Herceg Novi) and Poreska uprava’s 2026 seasonal informator mirror the same ≤10 / 20 ceiling — do not use the repealed pre-2018 “7 rooms / 15 beds” wording.

    [10][11][17][15][14]
  2. 02

    Categorisation and door-mounted category mark

    Household objects must meet minimum technical conditions and category conditions (arts. 79 and 84). Art. 101 requires the izdavalac to display the type/category mark at the entrance, post prices including boravišna taksa, issue invoices that show the tax and guest insurance, keep a guest book and a complaints book, hold the CTR rješenje on site, and file capacity / tourist / overnight figures with the local authority, LTO and statistics body by the 10th of the current month for the previous month. gov.me publishes the ministry categorisation procedure for hospitality objects.

    [10][11][16]
  3. 03

    Centralni turistički registar (CTR)

    Art. 8 allows advertising — including on digital platforms — only for objects that hold a licence, an odobrenje for performing the activity, or a rješenje on entry in the Centralni turistički registar. For household short stays, the operative instrument is the CTR rješenje (art. 100(6)). CTR is the public electronic register (ctr.gov.me), fed by ministry and local-authority decisions. Glavni grad Podgorica publishes the household CTR application path. Confirm the unit appears in CTR before scaling Airbnb / Booking listings.

    [10][11][13][14]
  4. 04

    Not EU 2024/1028 — and not Serbia’s eTurista

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 is an EU Member State short-term rental data framework. Montenegro is a candidate country, not a Member State — do not treat an EU platform registration number as a Montenegrin legal duty. Likewise, eturista.gov.rs is Serbia’s system; Montenegrin hosts use domestic CTR entry plus MUP and LTO filing channels.

    [21][22][10][13]

Chapter · Boravišna taksa

Sojourn tax & the 24-hour LTO notice

Zakon o boravišnoj taksi sets the national sojourn-tax framework; each opština sets the nightly amount within €0.10–€1.00. Art. 7b adds a separate 24-hour tourist notice duty to the local tourist organisation.

Statute

“Davalac smještaja dužan je da u roku od 24 sata po dolasku turista kojima pruža usluge smještaja prijavi dolazak turista lokalnoj turističkoj organizaciji, ili organizacionim djelovima - turističkim informativnim biroima na čijoj se teritoriji pružaju usluge smještaja … i odjavi njihov boravak u roku od 24 sata nakon njihovog odlaska.”
Zakon o boravišnoj taksi, art. 7b(1) (prečišćeni tekst, SL RCG 11/2004, 13/2004; SL CG 73/2010, 48/2015) [05]
  1. 01

    Who pays — and who is exempt

    Boravišna taksa is owed by persons using lodging away from their permanent residence in a tourism/hospitality lodging object, on equal terms for foreign nationals. Statutory exemptions include children under 12, persons with severe sensory/physical disability (with proof), certain medical and seasonal-work categories, continuous stays over 30 days in the same object, school excursions, and treaty/humanitarian exemptions. Ages 12–18 (and certain youth-hostel categories) pay 50%. Municipalities may add further exemptions by local act.

    [05][06]
  2. 02

    Host collection, invoice line and remittance

    The host collects the tax together with the lodging charge, shows it separately on the invoice (or states the exemption basis), keeps a tax ledger, reports guest counts and tax collected to the competent body by the 15th for the prior month, and remits collected tax within five days after each half-month period (arts. 4–6). Failure to collect does not erase the duty — unpaid tax falls on the host.

    [05]
  3. 03

    24-hour notice to the local tourist organisation

    Art. 7b requires the host to report tourist arrivals to the LTO (or its tourist information bureau) on whose territory lodging is provided within 24 hours of arrival, and to deregister within 24 hours of departure. This LTO notice clock is separate from the 12-hour police clock for foreigners — in practice many coastal hosts complete both through the same LTO info desk or integrated software, but missing either window remains a breach.

    [05]
  4. 04

    Municipal rates — confirm locally

    There is no single national nightly figure beyond the €0.10–€1.00 band in art. 7. Opština Kotor’s assembly decision (applicable from 1 July 2018) sets boravišna taksa at €1.00 on the territory of Opština Kotor — verify it remains the live municipal figure before quoting. Opština Budva lists Odluka o boravišnoj taksi in its Uprava lokalnih javnih prihoda documents index — confirm the live amount, giro account and any household paušal option with Opština Budva / TO Budva rather than inventing a figure from press copy. Podgorica and other inland municipalities set their own figures — confirm with the local tourist organisation rather than copying a coastal €1 table.

    [05][08][09]

Chapter · Fiscal

Income tax on short-stay letting

Poreska uprava treats ordinary household letting income as prihodi od imovine under Zakon o porezu na dohodak fizičkih lica — separate from boravišna taksa and from entrepreneur flat-tax tracks that only cover limited rural/mountain cases.

  1. 01

    Property income — not social contributions on household letting

    Official Tax Administration seasonal guidance (2026 informator) states that a natural person letting rooms, apartments, holiday houses or camps under the household regime declares prihodi od imovine and owes personal income tax on that base — not mandatory social-security contributions that apply to independent-activity entrepreneurs. File the annual GPP-FL declaration by the end of April for the prior year. From 2026, many Tax Administration procedures run through the IRMS portal (irms.tax.gov.me).

    [17][18]
  2. 02

    Standard cost allowances

    The same Tax Administration guidance recognises standard deductible costs of 30% of collected lodging income for direct letting, 50% where boravišna taksa was collected, and 70% where a lease with a tourist agency or local tourist organisation yields at least 60 occupancy days on average per year. Tax on the resulting base is calculated at 15% for this property-income category. Confirm the live rate and any agency withholding with Poreska uprava before quoting net returns.

    [17][18]
  3. 03

    Entrepreneurs and paušal — limited coastal use

    Flat-rate (paušal) taxation of independent-activity income is a separate entrepreneur track. Tax Administration guidance limits paušal accommodation letting to rural and mountain areas under the flat-tax pravilnik (and a €30,000 planned-income ceiling in the 2026 informator) — coastal Budva / Kotor household hosts should not assume paušal applies. Entrepreneurial lodging outside those conditions is taxed on actual income with bookkeeping. The same informator also flags electronic fiscalisation duties for accommodation providers who issue invoices — confirm registration and fiscalisation duties with Poreska uprava for your exact status.

    [17]

Chapter · EU status

Candidate — not EU, not Schengen

Montenegro is negotiating EU accession. Hosts should apply Montenegrin statutes and municipal acts — not copy-paste GDPR, Schengen lodging articles, or Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 as if they were domestic law.

  1. 01

    EU candidate, not Member State

    The European Commission lists Montenegro as a candidate country with accession negotiations opened in 2012. Until accession, EU regulations do not operate as Montenegrin law. Design guest flows around Zakon o strancima, Zakon o boravišnoj taksi, Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu and local odluke — not around an assumed EU STR registration number.

    [21]
  2. 02

    Not Schengen

    Montenegro is outside the Schengen Area. Do not treat Article 45 of the Schengen Implementing Convention or another Member State’s eVisitor / SIBA clock as Montenegro’s rule. The domestic 12-hour police filing and 24-hour LTO notice are the operative deadlines.

    [21][01][05]
  3. 03

    Domestic personal-data law — not GDPR as Montenegrin statute

    Identity and travel-document data processed for guest registration are personal data under Zakon o zaštiti podataka o ličnosti (Službeni list CG 79/08 and amendments through 77/24). Collect what the lodging and aliens statutes require, inform guests, secure transmission to police / LTO channels, and respect retention (including the two-year foreigner register). Do not cite GDPR as the Montenegrin legal basis — AZLP supervises the domestic statute. EU data-protection approximation is a candidacy topic, not a substitute for the current CG law.

    [19][20]
  4. 04

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 — not Montenegrin law

    From 20 May 2026 the EU short-term rental data framework applies where EU Member States operate registration procedures and require platforms to transmit activity data. Montenegro is not an EU Member State: the regulation does not apply here by virtue of EU membership. Montenegro already runs CTR entry and police / LTO guest clocks independently of 2024/1028 — do not invent platform delisting duties or an EU single digital entry point for Montenegro until primary Montenegrin (or binding international) instruments say so.

    [22][21][13]

Remote arrival · Still the law

Self check-in under Montenegrin rules

Remote arrival is common from Tivat into the Bay of Kotor and along the Budva Riviera. The compliance gate is capturing the identity and travel-document fields needed for police and LTO filing before access unlocks — a lockbox code is not a substitute for the 12-hour or 24-hour clocks.

01

Document

02

E.turistas

03

Keys

  • Identity data before access

    Build capture of name, nationality, travel-document type and number, stay address and dates — the fields arts. 96–97 expect — into the check-in flow itself before door codes or lockbox instructions unlock.

    [01][02]

  • Two clocks still run after keys

    Pre-arrival data capture helps, but foreign-guest filing must still reach the police within 12 hours of arrival, and tourist notice must still reach the LTO within 24 hours. Late or missing filing remains a statutory breach even if the guest already has the keys.

    [01][05]

  • Deregistration is a separate step

    Plan departure-day or post-departure deregistration for both the police channel (foreigners) and the LTO within the statutory windows. A clean check-in flow that never closes the stay is still non-compliant.

    [01][05]

  • CTR rješenje is a separate prerequisite

    Timely guest filing does not replace household approval. Confirm the unit’s CTR rješenje (and art. 101 category display) before scaling remote arrival on platforms.

    [10][13]

Municipal & bay layers

Police filing and the Tourism Act are national. Boravišna taksa amounts and LTO desk practice still differ by opština — Kotor, Budva and Podgorica each need a local rate check.

  • Bay of Kotor with red-roofed town and mountains

    Kotor — €1.00 boravišna taksa & bay arrivals

    01

    Skupština Opštine Kotor’s decision amending the municipal sojourn-tax act sets boravišna taksa at €1.00 on the territory of Opština Kotor (applicable from 1 July 2018; still the published municipal figure hosts should verify as current). Peak Old Town and bay villa stock makes the 12-hour police clock and 24-hour LTO notice especially tight after Tivat Airport and ferry-timed arrivals. Confirm payment accounts and any household paušal option with TO Kotor / the municipal tax secretariat before quoting guests. Note: Opština Kotor’s separate “turistička taksa” rješenja for certain physical persons are a different local levy from nightly boravišna taksa — do not conflate them.

    [08][05]
  • Budva Old Town peninsula and Adriatic shoreline

    Budva — coastal peak & confirm municipal odluka

    02

    Opština Budva’s Uprava lokalnih javnih prihoda documents index lists Odluka o boravišnoj taksi and related payment forms — treat that as the municipal source of truth and confirm the live nightly amount, giro account and any household paušal option with Opština Budva / TO Budva before quoting. Riviera apartment stock sees heavy self check-in — capture document fields before releasing access, then hit both the 12-hour police and 24-hour LTO windows. Do not invent a Budva € figure from press copy when the municipal PDF is not in hand.

    [09][05][01]
  • Millennium Bridge spanning the Morača in Podgorica

    Podgorica — capital apartments, confirm local tax

    03

    Year-round city apartments still need household CTR entry (Glavni grad publishes the CTR household application path) and the same national 12-hour / 24-hour filing clocks. Do not assume the coastal €1.00 sojourn-tax figure — confirm Glavni grad Podgorica’s current boravišna taksa decision and TO Podgorica practice before quoting. Capital business travel makes pre-arrival identity capture valuable for late flights.

    [14][05][10]

This is the law · Here is the reference

Sources & references

Primary statutes, EU instruments and competent authorities. Open the link when your property is at stake.

  1. [01]Local law
    Zakon o strancima (Službeni list CG 12/2018, as amended)

    Primary statute: host duty to register/deregister foreign guests within 12 hours (art. 97); two-year register (art. 98); electronic filing / LTO fallback (art. 99).

  2. [02]Authority
    gov.me MUP — Stranci (prijava / odjava boravka)

    Official Ministry of Interior foreigners pages: host filing path when the guest uses a davalac smještaja; Obrazac 1 / Obrazac 2; electronic-filing uputstvo (Registar boravka do 90 dana).

  3. [03]Local law
    Pravilnik o načinu podnošenja prijave i odjave boravka koju za stranca podnosi davalac smještaja

    MUP rulebook: electronic automatic transfer to the Police Directorate; “no technical means” potvrda (one-year); household LTO path.

  4. [04]Local law
    Zakon o registrima prebivališta i boravišta (Službeni list CG 46/2015, as amended)

    Host duty to register Montenegrin citizens within 12 hours (art. 25); electronic / LTO / written channels.

  5. [05]Local law
    Zakon o boravišnoj taksi — prečišćeni tekst (SL RCG 11/2004, 13/2004; SL CG 73/2010, 48/2015)

    National sojourn-tax framework: €0.10–€1.00 band (art. 7), host collection/remittance (arts. 4–6), and art. 7b 24-hour LTO tourist notice.

  6. [06]Local law
    Zakon o boravišnoj taksi — Službeni list entry

    Official Gazette register entry for the sojourn-tax statute (base act 11/2004).

  7. [07]Authority
    gov.me — Zakon o boravišnoj taksi (library entry)

    Government library entry for the sojourn-tax statute (downloadable consolidated text).

  8. [08]Local law
    Opština Kotor — Odluka o izmjeni Odluke o boravišnoj taksi

    Municipal assembly decision setting boravišna taksa at €1.00 on the territory of Opština Kotor (from 1 July 2018).

  9. [09]Authority
    Opština Budva — Uprava lokalnih javnih prihoda (dokumenti)

    Municipal documents index listing Odluka o boravišnoj taksi and related local-revenue acts — confirm the live nightly amount with Opština Budva / TO Budva.

  10. [10]Local law
    Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu (Službeni list CG 2/2018, as amended)

    Official Gazette register entry for the in-force Tourism and Hospitality Act (status: važeći, with later amendments through 84/2024).

  11. [11]Local law
    Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu — consolidated text (Paragraf)

    Readable consolidation: art. 8 advertising gate; art. 100 household capacity ≤10 rooms / 20 beds and CTR entry; art. 101 izdavalac duties (stats by the 10th).

  12. [12]Local law
    Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu — 2025 consolidated PDF

    Municipality-hosted consolidated text through SL CG 84/2024; cross-check for arts. 8, 100 and 101.

  13. [13]Authority
    Centralni turistički registar (ctr.gov.me)

    Public electronic register of tourism and hospitality subjects, including household providers.

  14. [14]Authority
    Glavni grad Podgorica — household CTR application

    Capital-city procedure for rješenje on CTR entry for ugostiteljske usluge u domaćinstvu as a natural person.

  15. [15]Guidance
    Opština Herceg Novi — Prijava CTR (fizičko lice u domaćinstvu)

    Local CTR application form citing Zakon o turizmu i ugostiteljstvu; operational desk split for ≤10 rooms / 20 beds (local) vs larger units (ministry).

  16. [16]Authority
    gov.me — categorisation of hospitality objects

    Ministry procedure for categorisation rješenja under the Tourism and Hospitality Act.

  17. [17]Authority
    Poreska uprava — Pripremimo se za ljetnju turističku sezonu (2026)

    Official Tax Administration seasonal informator: household capacity summary (≤10 rooms / 20 beds), property-income treatment, standard cost %, GPP-FL timing, limited rural paušal, IRMS portal, fiscalisation note.

  18. [18]Local law
    Zakon o porezu na dohodak fizičkih lica (as amended)

    Primary personal-income-tax statute governing prihodi od imovine from tourist letting.

  19. [19]Local law
    Zakon o zaštiti podataka o ličnosti (Službeni list CG 79/08 … 77/24)

    Domestic personal-data statute applicable to guest identity processing — not GDPR as Montenegrin law.

  20. [20]Authority
    AZLP — Agency for personal data protection

    Supervisory authority for Zakon o zaštiti podataka o ličnosti.

  21. [21]Agency
    European Commission — Montenegro (enlargement)

    Official EU enlargement page: Montenegro is a candidate country with accession negotiations — not an EU Member State.

  22. [22]EU law
    Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 — short-term rental data

    EU Member State STR data framework from 20 May 2026 — not Montenegrin law by virtue of EU membership; cited only to avoid false application.

After the law · The product

Where NextStay fits

After the law is clear: we capture the guest identity data Montenegrin police and LTO filing need before access unlocks — so bay and riviera hosts can run remote-friendly arrivals without skipping the 12-hour or 24-hour clocks.

  • 01

    Identity before the key

    Online check-in collects travel-document-ready guest details before door instructions unlock — matching the fields Zakon o strancima expects hosts to verify.

  • 02

    Filing-ready records, on both clocks

    Structured stay data is ready to file with the police within 12 hours and to notify the LTO within 24 hours — without a last-minute scramble in peak Budva or Kotor season.

  • 03

    Host visibility without desk chaos

    Hotels and individual hosts see who has completed check-in data, who is blocked, and when access can release — including late Tivat Airport transfers into the bay.

  • 04

    Destination guidance in the workspace

    This Montenegro dossier stays attached to the market — 12-hour police filing, 24-hour LTO notice, CTR household entry, boravišna taksa and candidate-country accuracy — not a generic EU footnote.

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Cities in Montenegro

NextStay provides operational tools and general regulatory information, not legal advice. Hosts remain responsible for confirming the rules that apply to their accommodation in Montenegro. Research last verified .