Texas, checked October 2, 2026

Texas hotel occupancy tax for short-term rentals: what hosts collect and file

Because state law counts it as a hotel, a Texas short-term rental falls under the state hotel occupancy tax for stays under 30 days. The Comptroller collects the state's 6%. Cities and counties with their own hotel tax collect it themselves. A platform that has agreed to collect the state tax reports those stays on your behalf.^[2]

Sources last checked on October 2, 2026.

State tax6%
Total by city6% to 17.5%13 of 23 cities publish every rate
Airbnb collectsState tax and some city taxes
Cleaning feeTaxed

Texas hotel occupancy tax

Texas applies its state hotel occupancy tax to any room a host rents for $15 a day or more. The rate is 6% of the price. The Comptroller treats a rented house, condominium or apartment like a hotel room for this tax. Local hotel taxes reach rooms from $2 a day.^[1]

What the state of Texas charges

State taxes on a short-term rental stay in Texas
Tax	Rate	Applies to	Long stays	Paid to
Texas state hotel occupancy tax^[5]	6%	The price paid for a room costing $15 a day or more, cleaning charges included.	A guest who holds the room for 30 or more consecutive days without a break in payment is a permanent resident, exempt from the tax.	Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

Local taxes in 23 Texas cities

Counties and cities add their own rates. A city with a layer that has no published rate gets no total.

Short-term rental tax layers by city in Texas
City	Tax layers	Total
Aransas Pass short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Aransas Pass hotel/motel occupancy tax 7% The Finance Department collects the city's 7% on daily and weekly rentals. Rooms, houses and condos are all covered. Reports are quarterly, with each quarter's tax due by the end of the following month.	13%
Bandera short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Bandera County hotel occupancy tax 6% City of Bandera hotel occupancy tax Not published Bandera County's form applies to any hotel in the county as the state tax code defines it. A report is owed for every period, even when nothing is due, and the county expects it within a month after the period closes.	Not published
Boerne short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Boerne hotel occupancy tax Not published Boerne takes its hotel occupancy tax quarterly, through the same portal as the registration.	Not published
Corpus Christi short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Corpus Christi hotel occupancy tax Not published The city publishes its hotel occupancy tax rate separately from the registration pages. The state's 6% is due to the Comptroller whatever the local rate turns out to be.	Not published
Dallas short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Dallas hotel occupancy tax 9% Dallas reports are monthly, due by the 15th, and filed even when no tax is due. Since February 1, 2026, tax still unpaid three months after the due date adds a 15% penalty.	15%
El Paso short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% El Paso County hotel occupancy tax 2.5% City of El Paso hotel occupancy tax 7% El Paso venue project tax 2% The city's 7% and 2% reach short-term rentals once collection starts, 90 to 180 days after the resolution of June 9, 2026. A platform that books the stay then collects the city share.	17.5%
Fort Worth short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Fort Worth hotel occupancy tax 7% Fort Worth hotel convention tax 2% Fort Worth wants a return on Localgov for every month, even one with no receipts, filed by the 25th of the next month. A late return adds a 15% penalty, and unpaid tax accrues 10% a year.	15%
Fredericksburg short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Fredericksburg hotel occupancy tax Not published The city runs its own hotel occupancy tax alongside the state's, and publishes its filing rules separately from the permit pages. A property in the ETJ still owes the state tax even though it needs no city permit.	Not published
Galveston short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Galveston local hotel occupancy tax Not published Galveston collects its own local hotel occupancy tax rather than routing it through the state. That is why you file two returns: one with the Comptroller, one with the city, both due on the twentieth.	Not published
Granbury short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Granbury hotel occupancy tax Not published The city is explicit that hotel occupancy taxes are due from hosted and un-hosted short-term rentals alike, and from hosted bed and breakfasts, inside the city limits.	Not published
Granite Shoals short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Granite Shoals hotel occupancy tax Not published The city publishes its hotel occupancy tax rate apart from the rental application pages. The state's 6% is due to the Comptroller whatever the local rate turns out to be.	Not published
Gun Barrel City short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Gun Barrel City hotel occupancy tax 7% Chapter 38 levies the city's 7% on any short-term rental room priced at $2 or more per day. Returns are quarterly. Each one, with its payment, goes to the city's collector of taxes by the final day of the following month.	13%
Horseshoe Bay short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Horseshoe Bay collects no local hotel occupancy tax. For the state's 6%, the city refers hosts to the Comptroller.	6%
Kerrville short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Kerrville hotel occupancy tax Not published The city takes its hotel occupancy tax monthly through Finance, and the state's 6% goes to the Comptroller on its own return: two filings, two recipients, same stay.	Not published
Lago Vista short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Lago Vista hotel occupancy tax 6% Send the city its quarterly hotel occupancy tax report for every quarter, including one with nothing to pay. Questions go to the Finance Director's Office.	12%
Marble Falls short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Marble Falls hotel occupancy tax Not published Collecting the hotel occupancy tax is written into the ordinance's purpose, so the permit and the tax account are treated as one obligation rather than two here.	Not published
New Braunfels short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% New Braunfels hotel occupancy tax 7% The city levies 7% on gross receipts for lodging at $2 or more a day, on top of the state's 6%. It is payable by the twentieth of each month for the previous month's collections.	13%
Port Aransas short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Port Aransas hotel and motel tax Not published The city's stated purpose for the article is explicitly fiscal as well as residential: registration exists so that habitation is safe and occupancy taxes are paid in timely fashion.	Not published
Port Isabel short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Cameron County venue tax 2% City of Port Isabel hotel occupancy tax 7% Fifteen percent in total, and two returns: the city's 7% and the county's 2% go through the city portal, the state's 6% to the Comptroller, both monthly.	15%
Rockport short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Rockport hotel occupancy tax 7% Thirteen percent in all. The city spells out the 7% in the ordinance itself rather than leaving hosts to infer it. It applies to rentals booked through an agency, VRBO or Airbnb exactly as to a hotel room.	13%
South Padre Island short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% City and county hotel occupancy tax 11% The city registration steps name both accounts you need. One is a taxpayer account to pay the 11% city and county hotel occupancy tax, the other a Texas taxpayer ID for the state's 6%. Seventeen percent in all.	17%
Surfside Beach short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Surfside Beach village hotel occupancy tax 5% Airbnb and Vrbo do not pay the village its local tax. The platforms generally remit only the state's 6%, so collecting the village's 5% falls to you.	11%
Wimberley short-term rental rules	Texas state hotel occupancy tax 6% Wimberley hotel occupancy tax 7% HdL Lodging Tax administers Wimberley's 7%, so registration and filings go through its processing center. The tax took effect April 1, 2022, inside the city limits as well as in the ETJ.	13%

Tax on a three-night stay in Dallas

Take 3 nights at $200 plus a $100 cleaning fee in Dallas, the largest Texas city here with a rate on every layer. The cleaning fee counts toward the taxable amount.

Rent, 3 nights: $600.00
Cleaning fee: $100.00
Taxable amount: $700.00
Texas state hotel occupancy tax (6%): $42.00
Dallas hotel occupancy tax (9%): $63.00
Tax on the stay: $105.00
Guest pays: $805.00

What Airbnb and Vrbo collect in Texas

Airbnb

State tax and some city taxes

Airbnb charges Texas guests the 6% state hotel tax whenever a stay runs 29 nights or fewer, cleaning fee included. Its list of local hotel taxes includes Corpus Christi, El Paso and Galveston. Dallas is missing from it. Guests also pay Texas sales tax on part of Airbnb's service fee.^[6]

Vrbo

State tax and some local taxes

Vrbo collects the state hotel occupancy tax on Texas stays under 30 nights and has done so since April 1, 2019. Corpus Christi and Galveston appear among its local taxes. Dallas is absent.^[7]

How to register and file in Texas

Mail Form AP-102, the hotel occupancy tax questionnaire, to the Comptroller in Austin to open a state account. A host who has rented without one must still file every past report, with penalty and interest.^[3]

Filing: The default is a monthly report. It is due, with payment, on the 20th of the next month. A host who owes less than $500 a month, or $1,500 a quarter, files quarterly instead. The quarterly deadline is the 20th day after the quarter closes.^[5]
Cleaning fees: Texas counts the cleaning fee in the taxable price. Section 156.051 leaves personal services out of the room price, except services that clean and ready the room for the guest.^[5]
Service fees: Not published. Section 156.051 taxes the price paid for the room. It says nothing about a booking platform's guest service fee.^[5]

Penalties in Texas

A $50 penalty applies to each report filed after the due date.^[1]
Tax paid 1 to 30 days late adds a 5% penalty. Past 30 days the penalty is 10%, with interest from the 61st day after the due date.^[1]
Failing to collect, report or pay the state tax is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $100 to $1,000.^[5]

Calculator

Estimate the tax on a stay in Texas

Pick a city, then enter the nightly rate, the nights and the cleaning fee.

City in Texas

This is not tax advice. Confirm the rates with the tax office before you file.

Tax on this stay in Dallas

$105.00

Texas state hotel occupancy tax (6%)$42.00

Dallas hotel occupancy tax (9%)$63.00

Taxable amount, cleaning included$700.00

Guest pays in total$805.00

Dallas short-term rental rules

Who collects it

In Dallas

Dallas reports are monthly, due by the 15th, and filed even when no tax is due. Since February 1, 2026, tax still unpaid three months after the due date adds a 15% penalty.

What's changing

Announced changes

No change announced as of October 2, 2026.

Asked by hosts

Texas hotel occupancy tax: host questions

Which stays do I still report when a platform collects the state tax?

The ones it does not handle. Bookings taken on your own website count, as do those from a platform that has not agreed to collect.^[2]

Does a guest staying a month pay Texas hotel tax?

Not once the stay reaches 30 consecutive days with no break in payment. A guest who announces that stay in writing is exempt from the date of the notice. Otherwise the first 30 days are taxed.^[4]

Do I get anything for filing on time?

Filing and paying by the due date lets you keep 1% of the tax due. The discount does not apply to stays a collecting platform reported for you.^[2]

What should I hand an auditor for stays booked through a platform?

Ask the platform for your account's transaction history. The Comptroller expects you to pass that record to the auditor.^[2]

Keep exploring

Sources