1. Cloudbeds
  2. Configuration Hub
  3. Property Configuration
  4. Taxes and fees

Set Up and Apply Taxes and Fees

Lorena Pamplona
Updated
Purpose Walks you through the complete two-step process to create a tax or fee in Cloudbeds PMS and apply it to reservation sources and/or products so it takes effect on new reservations.
Best for Property owners and admins setting up, editing, or removing taxes and fees
Use this when You're creating a new tax or fee for the first time, applying an existing tax to an OTA or booking source, updating a tax configuration, or removing a tax from a reservation
You need Owner or admin access to Cloudbeds PMS. The Taxes and Fees role permission must be enabled for your user.
Expected result Your tax or fee is created and applied to the correct sources or products. New qualifying reservations will automatically include the configured tax or fee.
Important limit Creating a tax or fee does not apply it automatically. You must complete Step 2 and 3 (applying the tax to sources or products) before it takes effect on any reservation.

This article walks you through the full process of creating a tax or fee and applying it to your reservation sources and products. Follow both steps to make sure taxes appear correctly on new reservations.

  Before creating a tax or fee, make sure you understand the available types and the difference between inclusive and exclusive taxes. See Taxes and fees overview.

Step 1 - Create a tax or fee

All taxes and fees are created in Finance Finance icon.png> Taxes and Fees.

  1. Go to Account Account Menu.jpg > Settings Settings icon.png > Finance Finance icon.png
  2. Click the Taxes and Fees tab
  3. Click + New tax or fee

  1. Select the type:
    • Tax - a financial charge imposed by a government body, such as VAT, occupancy tax, or tourism tax
    • Fee - a charge for a service, such as a cleaning fee or service charge
    • Payment fee - select this only if you need to set up a convenience fee
  2. Set Available for - choose whether this tax applies to Reservations, Products, or both
  3. Enter a Title - this is customer-facing and appears on the reservation summary, folio, invoice, and booking engine
  4. Optionally, enter a Code - for internal use only, often an official tax code issued by a government authority
  5. If using Percentage of total as the rule, decide whether to check Included in price:
    • Check this box for an inclusive tax (the tax is already within the rate)
    • Leave unchecked for an exclusive tax (the tax is added on top of the rate)
  6. Select the Rule - this controls how the tax amount is calculated:
    • Select if the tax is a percentage amount or a fixed amount per accommodation, per room night, per reservation or per guest per night. Check more details in the table below.
  7. Select whether it is applied all accommodations or specific ones
  8. Select if the tax or fee is only applied in a certain date range
  9. Save.

 

Rule How it calculates
Fixed per accommodation A flat amount charged once per accommodation booked
Percentage of total A percentage of the reservation total. Supports inclusive and exclusive calculation.
Fixed per room night/product A flat amount charged per room night or per product sold
Fixed per reservation A flat amount charged once per reservation, regardless of nights or rooms
Fixed per guest per night A flat amount charged per guest for each night of the stay
Rate-based percentage A percentage that varies based on the nightly room rate. Used for GST-style dynamic taxes. See Set up advanced tax options.

  You're not done yet. Saving a tax in Finance only creates it - it won't appear on any reservation until you complete Step 2 below and apply it to the correct reservation sources.

Step 2 - Apply the tax to reservation sources

Once a tax is created, you apply it to the reservation sources where it should be charged. A reservation source is the channel through which a booking arrives - for example, your Booking Engine, Booking.com, or Expedia.

  Only property owners have access to Sources settings by default. Other users can be granted access by the property owner. See Roles and permissions.

  1. Go to Account Account Menu.jpg > Settings Settings icon.png> Property  Property icon.png
  2. Click the Sources tab
  3. Select Primary Sources or Third-Party Sources depending on where you want to apply the tax:
    • Primary Sources - direct bookings made through your Booking Engine, front desk, or phone.
    • Third-Party Sources - OTA channels such as Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, or Priceline.
  4. Find the source and click Configure Taxes/Fees For Source
  1. Select the tax or fee to apply from the dropdown list
  2. Add the commission percentage charged by the channel, if applicable. 
    • This information is for matching purposes and reporting.
  3. Click Save

  If the source already has future reservations, Cloudbeds PMS will ask whether you want to recalculate them with the new tax:

  • Yes - the tax will be applied to pending (not yet posted) room charges on future reservations. It will not affect room rates already posted.
  • No - the tax won't be applied to existing reservations, but it will apply as soon as any unposted room rate on those reservations is edited.

To track recalculation activity, go to the Activity Log Logs icon.png and filter by Applicable Taxes Updated for Source or Applicable Fees Updated for Source.

Step 3 - Apply a tax to products and services

If a tax should apply to products or services sold through Cloudbeds PMS - such as spa treatments, parking, or restaurant items - apply it directly on the product.

  Changes to price, applied taxes, or applied fees on a product will only affect future transactions. Existing posted charges are not updated retroactively.

  1. Go to Account Account Menu.jpg > Settings Settings icon.png> Products products-icon.png
  2. Click Items and Services
  3. Find the item and click the Edit icon
  4. In the Apply Tax or Fee field, select the applicable tax or fee
  5. Click Save item

Edit a tax or fee

  1. Go to Account > Settings > Finance > Taxes and Fees
  2. Find the tax or fee and click the three dots next to it
  3. Click Edit
  4. Apply the required changes
  5. Click Save - if the tax is applied to sources with future reservations, you'll be prompted to recalculate

  It's not possible to edit the type of an existing tax or fee (Tax, Fee, or Payment fee). If you need to change the type, delete the existing entry and create a new one.

Delete a tax or fee

  Deleting a tax or fee only affects new future reservations. It will not remove the tax from reservations or transactions that already exist in the system. To remove a tax from an existing reservation, see the section below.

  1. Go to Account Account Menu.jpg > Settings Settings icon.png> Finance Finance icon.png > Taxes and Fees
  2. Find the tax or fee and open the menu Three dots (ellipsis) icon.png to edit edit icon.png
  3. Click Delete

What happens when you delete a tax that's applied to a source

If a reservation was created while the tax was still tied to a source and you then delete the tax (or remove it from the source), Cloudbeds PMS will prompt you to recalculate. However, the original tax will remain on the reservation - the system preserves a record of how the booking was originally made. Recalculating will not remove the existing tax; you'll need to adjust those reservations manually.

Remove a tax from an existing reservation

When a tax or fee needs to be removed from a specific reservation that already has it posted, use the Adjustment option in the reservation folio.

  1. Open the reservation and go to the Folio tab
  2. Click Add and select Adjust Charge/Adjustment

  1. Select the guest and folio to apply the adjustment to
  2. Enter the Amount as a negative value equal to the original charge (for example, -$2,83 to zero out a $2,83 tax)
  3. In Charge Type, select the tax or fee to remove
  4. Save.

The reservation balance will update and the tax will appear as $0.00 in the folio. Both the original charge and the adjustment will remain visible in the folio transaction log for audit purposes.

 

Add a tax manually to a specific reservation

If a reservation is missing a tax that should have been applied, for example, an OTA reservation that was imported without the correct tax, you can add it manually through the folio.

  Before adding a tax manually, review the reservation's source configuration to understand why the tax wasn't applied automatically. Adding it manually corrects the specific reservation but won't fix the underlying source setup. 

  When you add a tax manually, the amount must be calculated manually. The system doesn't calculate it automatically in this flow. Make sure you know the correct tax amount before proceeding. Taxes and fees are not automatically included in the guest deposit. To include them in the deposit, update your settings in the Deposit tab within Policies.

  1. Open the reservation and go to the Folio tab
  2. Click Add and select Tax/Fee to open the Add exclusive tax/fee settings
  1. Select the guest and folio the tax or fee will be posted
  2. Select the Tax or fee type from the dropdown (the tax must already exist in Finance > Taxes and Fees)
  3. Enter the Amount
  4. Check Post with current date and time if applicable
  5. Click Add

  If the manually added fee has an exclusive tax linked to it, that tax will be calculated automatically when you add the fee.

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