Municipal Accommodation Tax

The Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) is a mandatory levy applied by municipalities to accommodations, including hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and short-term rentals to generate revenue to support initiatives aimed at promoting and enhancing local tourism.

The Province of Ontario permitted municipalities to create the MAT in 2017 as a vehicle to provide continued investment in tourism without additional tax burden on local businesses or residents.

An Eligible Tourism Entity is a non-profit entity whose mandate includes the promotion of tourism in Ontario or in a municipality.

In Ajax, the designated Eligible Tourism Entity is Durham Tourism.

The MAT in Ajax has been set at 5%.

The Municipal Accommodation Tax in Ajax will take effect on April 1, 2025.

Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) is a mandatory tax that is included in the accommodation payment at the time of booking with the accommodation provider.

The MAT is neither a business tax nor a resident tax. The MAT is levied on visitors staying in accommodations within the Town of Ajax.

No. MAT is only applicable to the accommodation portion of short-term rentals in the Town of Ajax.

Per Town of Ajax By-law No. 09-2025, the Municipal Accommodation Tax does not apply to the following accommodations:

• hotel, and motel rooms rented for more than 28 consecutive days.
• the Crown, every agency of the Crown in right of Ontario, and every authority, board, commission, corporation, office or organization of persons a majority of whose directors, members or officers are appointed or chosen by or under the authority of the Lieutenant Governor in Council or a member of the Executive Council;
• every board as defined in subsection 1(1) of the Education Act;
• every university in Ontario and every college of applied arts and technology and post-secondary institution in Ontario whether or not affiliated with a university, the enrolments of which are counted for purposes of calculating operating grants entitlements from the Crown;
• every hospital referred to in the list of hospitals and their grades and classifications maintained by the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care under the Public Hospitals Act and every private hospital operated under the authority of a licence issued under the Private Hospitals Act;
• every long-term care home as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 and every hospice;
• a hotel or motel used by the Town or its service providers for shelter purposes;
• a treatment centre that receives private funding or provincial aid under the Ministry of Community and Social Services Act;
• a house of refuge or Lodging for the reformation of offenders;
• a charitable, non-profit philanthropic corporation organized as shelter for the relief of the poor or for emergency;
• a tent or trailer site supplied by a campground, tourist camp or trailer park;
• employers to their employees in premises operated by the employer;
• a hospitality room in an establishment that may or may not contain a bed and is used for displaying merchandise, holding meetings or entertaining; or,
• group bookings with contracts that are entered into prior to the date that the MAT By-law takes effect.

• 50% is kept by the Town of Ajax in a special MAT reserve. This money is used for projects and initiatives that promote tourism within the Town.
• 50% is given to Durham Tourism, the designated Eligible Tourism Entity for Ajax. This helps in promoting Ajax as a destination and delivering tourism programs for the community

Hotel Providers

Quarterly Remittance Period Due Dates