In only few jurisdictions is a vacation rental cleaing fee considered to be a nontaxable charge. While the fee is typically itemized separately from the nightly rate–a short term rental cleaining fee is still generally considered part of the total reservation cost.

Be sure to become familiar with all of your lodging tax laws before opening your doors for business, and never rely on short term rental platforms to correctly inform you of your tax obligations.

If the laws are not completely clear, always gain clarification by calling or visiting your local tax office in person.

If a vaction rental platform does collect and remit lodging tax, it may or may not is automatically apply the tax to payments guests send a host AFTER the original booking.

Take note: If pet fees, additional guest fees, extra parking fees, additional nights, etc are paid after the initial booking, be sure the listing platform confirms in writing that they take responsiblity for all potential lodging taxes.

It's imperative an STR owner ensures all lodging taxes are collected property, whether by the site platform or if collected directly.

I highly recommend to propertly register with your state and city/county tax offices before accepting reservations.

Being registered with your own tax account allows repeat guests to save and book your property directly. Otherwise your diect booking opportunities may be very limited.

Not to mention, travelers are often put off if an owner only does business through sites that charge them exhorbitant service fees.

But my tax advisor says clean fees are not taxable

This very well might be true. But triple check yourself just to be on the safe side. So, why do I suggest this?

Because sometimes CPAs and tax advisors assume all services or labor are nontaxable, without checking any accommodation tax laws.

For example, let's say a computer shop sells both computers, as well as a service to set them up in customer homes. The computer might be taxed at one sales tax rate, and the "service/labor" setup is considered nontaxable. A tax advisor not familiar with lodging tax, nor different types of sales tax, might assume all labor is nontaxable without ever looking up the applicable laws.

There is no shortage of owners who discovered years later they were incorrectly informed. Not only were they liable for back taxes, but for the penalties and late filing fees as well.

Be sure your tax advisor verifies and quotes the exact laws they are applying. And be sure they are not just general labor and service laws, but rather they are specific to accommodation lodging tax.

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