How to calculate occupancy tax on a short-term rental
Start from gross receipts, remove exempt stays and stays the platform already taxed, apply your rate. A worked example, the common traps, and how to get the numbers from your booking exports.
The basic formula
Tax due = taxable receipts × rate, where taxable receipts = gross receipts for the period − exempt receipts − receipts on which a platform already collected and remitted the tax. Some places tax cleaning fees and some don't, and the period a stay belongs to (check-in, check-out or nights) varies too. Your tax office's instructions decide each of these.
Worked example (illustrative numbers)
| Gross receipts in the quarter (incl. cleaning fees) | $12,000.00 |
|---|---|
| − One 35-night stay (long-stay exempt) | $1,500.00 |
| − Stays where the platform remitted the tax | $3,000.00 |
| = Taxable receipts | $7,500.00 |
| × Rate (example 6%) | $450.00 due |
Common traps
- Using payout dates when your tax office wants stay dates. See stay date vs payout date.
- Using net payouts (after host fees) instead of gross receipts.
- Paying twice on stays where Airbnb or Vrbo already remitted. See does Airbnb collect occupancy tax?
- Missing long-stay exemptions (thresholds such as 30 nights are common but not universal). See long-stay exemptions.
Lodgetally applies these rules to every reservation in your export and shows totals per period that add up, so you can explain each number. It is not tax advice.
FAQ
Is occupancy tax charged on cleaning fees?
It depends on the jurisdiction. Lodgetally has a setting for whether cleaning fees are taxable; check your tax office's instructions.
Is it really private?
Yes. Your file is read by JavaScript running in your browser tab; its contents — guest names, earnings, listings — are never sent over the network. You can verify this in your browser's developer tools (Network tab), or go offline after the page has loaded.
Is this tax advice?
No. Lodgetally does the arithmetic from your platform files using the rates and rules you enter. Rules differ by state, county and city — check what's taxable, the exemptions, and whether a platform collects for you with your tax office, and file on their form.
Which files work?
The Airbnb earnings / transaction history CSV, Vrbo payout and stay-tax reports, the Booking.com extranet reservations export, and most property-management exports with stay dates and amounts — CSV, TXT, XLSX, XLS or ODS. Columns are detected automatically and you can change any of them; your choice is remembered for that layout.
Why by check-in date and not payout date?
Most lodging-tax returns are based on when guests stayed. Payout dates drift from stay dates at every period boundary. You can choose check-in, check-out, payout date, or splitting each stay's receipts by nights in each month.
Does it know my tax rate?
No — you enter it (one or more rates, e.g. state + county + city), so the worksheet always matches your jurisdiction's current rate.
What's free?
Everything, one file at a time, for reports covering up to 40 reservations — the full worksheet, checks, CSV summary and printable worksheet. Pro removes the limit, combines several files (e.g. Airbnb + Vrbo + Booking.com), and adds the Excel workbook and per-stay CSV.