Personal home rentals

Property owners who rent out the following places on a short-term basis (less than 30 days in a row) for overnight accommodations may need to register with the department:

• Homes.
• Rooms.
• Condominiums.
• Time shares.
• Cabins.
• Camping sites.
• RV sites.

Property owners must collect and pay retail sales tax on the rental charges. They also need to pay lodging and convention and trade center taxes, depending on the location of the property. They must pay any Retailing B&O tax due after taking the small business B&O tax credit, if applicable. The credit calculates automatically when you file electronically.

The department will assume a property owner is engaged in a taxable business activity when they do any of the following:

• Advertise the property availability for overnight accommodations through online marketplaces, newspapers, or other publications.
• Hire a property manager to handle the rental of the property.
• Engage in any short-term rental contracts (less than 30 days in a row per consumer).

Property owners that choose to use the services of a property manager or an online marketplace for booking and tax collection purposes should refer to the Online marketplaces and property managers section of this guide.

Property owners that offer rentals on a long-term basis (30 days or more) should refer to the Lodging – nontransient (long-term) section of this guide or our Tax Topic article titled Rental vs. license to use real estate.