Top TLDR:

‍Austin Airbnb hosts owe a combined 17% Hotel Occupancy Tax on every short-term rental stay—11% to the City of Austin and 6% to the State of Texas. Since April 1, 2025, platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo collect and remit City HOT automatically, but owners remain responsible for quarterly filings, state registration, and any revenue not processed through a platform. Register with both the City of Austin and the Texas Comptroller before your first booking, and file quarterly reports even when your balance is zero.

Austin Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) for Airbnb Hosts: Collection, Reporting & Remittance Guide

If you're hosting short-term rentals in Austin, tax compliance isn't something that takes care of itself—even if Airbnb is collecting on your behalf. The rules changed significantly in 2025, and many hosts are operating under outdated assumptions about what the platforms handle and what remains their personal responsibility.

The short version: Austin STR operators owe a combined 17% Hotel Occupancy Tax on every qualifying stay. Platforms now collect the city portion automatically, but owners must still register with two separate government bodies, file quarterly reports, and manage revenue that doesn't flow through a major booking platform. Miss a quarterly filing—even a zero report—and you face automatic penalties.

This guide walks through the full HOT framework for Austin Airbnb hosts: the rates, what's taxable, how platform collection works, what you still owe independently, how to file, and the penalties for getting it wrong.

At Sora Stays, Austin Airbnb management includes HOT documentation coordination so our owners stay current on filings without tracking deadlines themselves. But every Austin host needs to understand the framework whether they self-manage or work with a partner.

The Austin HOT Rate: What the 17% Is Made Of

Austin short-term rental hosts collect Hotel Occupancy Tax at two levels, each with its own taxing authority, its own registration requirement, and its own filing process.

City of Austin HOT: 11%The city rate breaks down into two components: a 9% occupancy tax and a 2% venue project tax. The venue component is not optional—it applies to all Austin STR stays under 30 days alongside the main occupancy tax. Revenue from the city HOT funds tourism promotion and cultural programs. Bills and receipts for STR stays must include a conspicuous statement noting that a 2% additional tax is imposed for the purpose of financing a venue project—this is a specific city code requirement, not just a suggestion.

State of Texas HOT: 6%The State of Texas imposes a 6% hotel occupancy tax on all accommodations rented for fewer than 30 consecutive days that cost $15 or more per day. This rate is flat statewide and applies to every Texas STR regardless of city. State HOT is remitted separately to the Texas Comptroller's Office, not to the City of Austin.

Combined Rate: 17%The two layers together produce a 17% total HOT burden for most Austin STR stays. This is collected from guests as part of the booking cost and passed through to the appropriate authorities. It applies to properties within Austin's Full Purpose Jurisdiction. Properties in Austin's Limited Purpose Jurisdiction are required to obtain an STR license but are not subject to City HOT—they only owe state tax. Properties in the Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) owe neither city HOT nor a city license.

What's Actually Subject to HOT

Understanding the taxable base matters because the city HOT applies more broadly than many hosts expect.

The City of Austin HOT applies to "all amounts charged to the guest related to the use, cleaning and readying of a room for occupancy." This means cleaning fees are part of the taxable base for City HOT purposes—not just the base nightly rate. If you charge $300/night plus a $75 cleaning fee, both amounts are subject to the 11% City HOT.

The State HOT is calculated on the total cost of the room, including cleaning fees and other charges related to the stay. However, if a cleaning fee is separately stated on the invoice or receipt, there is a question at the state level about taxability—but the safer default is to treat cleaning fees as taxable unless your CPA advises otherwise for your specific structure.

What is not subject to HOT:

• Stays of 30 consecutive days or longer (these are long-term rentals, not STRs under Texas law)
• Refundable security deposits that are returned in full
• Platform service fees charged directly by Airbnb or Vrbo to guests (these are not your income)

Permanent resident exemptions exist for guests who stay 30+ days consecutively. If a guest extends a booking past 30 days, that stay transitions out of HOT territory and you would stop collecting tax from the 30th day onward.

How Platform HOT Collection Works After April 2025

The most significant change to Austin's HOT landscape took effect April 1, 2025: all major booking platforms—Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia, Booking.com, and others—are now required to collect and remit City of Austin HOT on behalf of STR operators who use their platforms.

What this means in practice:When a guest books your Austin property through Airbnb, the platform adds the 11% City HOT to the booking total, collects it from the guest, and remits it directly to the City of Austin on your behalf. You do not receive this money in your payout and you do not need to manually remit the city portion for platform bookings.

Airbnb has separately collected and remitted State of Texas HOT (6%) since 2023 under Texas's marketplace provider law. So for a typical booking made through Airbnb, both the city and state HOT are collected and remitted by the platform without you touching the funds.

What platform collection does NOT eliminate:This is where many Austin hosts make costly mistakes. Platform collection does not eliminate your obligations as an operator. You are still required to:

1. Register with the City of Austin to collect HOT (you remain the registered operator)
2. Register with the Texas Comptroller's Office for state HOT
3. File quarterly reports with the City of Austin, including a reconciliation of how much HOT each platform collected and remitted on your behalf
4. Collect and remit directly any HOT on revenue that does not flow through a platform (direct bookings, phone reservations, cash transactions)

Starting July 1, 2026, platforms will also be required to provide operators with quarterly documentation of the HOT amounts they collected and remitted on your behalf—giving you the records needed to reconcile filings accurately.

The filing obligation remains yours. The platforms collect the money; you report it.

How to Register for Austin HOT

Before you accept your first booking, you need to register with both authorities. Operating without registration—even if platforms are collecting the tax—puts you out of compliance.

City of Austin RegistrationContact the Financial Services Department at hotels@austintexas.gov or call 512-974-2590, press 1. Registration establishes you as an operator required to file quarterly HOT reports. Note that your STR license renewal process also requires confirmation that your quarterly HOT reports have been filed—so tax compliance and licensing compliance are linked. A lapse in HOT filings can affect your ability to renew your STR license.

Texas Comptroller RegistrationRegister with the Texas Comptroller's Office for state HOT through the eSystems portal at comptroller.texas.gov. Registration is not required if a platform collects all state HOT for your property—but if you accept any direct bookings, or if your platform agreement doesn't cover full state HOT collection, you remain responsible and must be registered.

If you're not sure whether your platform is collecting and remitting both city and state HOT, check your host dashboard or contact the platform directly before assuming full coverage.

The Quarterly Filing Calendar

HOT reports are due to the City of Austin on or before the last day of the month following each calendar quarter:

• Q1 (January–March): Report due April 30
• Q2 (April–June): Report due July 31
• Q3 (July–September): Report due October 31
• Q4 (October–December): Report due January 31

Zero reports are required. If you had no rentals during a quarter, you must still file a zero report with the City of Austin by the deadline. There is no exception for zero-revenue periods. Missing a zero report triggers the same penalties as missing a report with tax due.

Each quarterly report must include:

• Total consideration received for all room occupancies in the quarter
• Amount of any exemptions granted (including 30-day permanent resident exemptions)
• Amount of HOT collected on taxable occupancies
• For platform bookings: Documentation of how much HOT each platform collected and remitted on your behalf during that quarter

When filing a paper report with the City of Austin, a copy of your concurrent state quarterly HOT report must be attached. When filing online, the city may request the state report separately.

State HOT filings follow a similar quarterly schedule through the Texas Comptroller's eSystems portal. You report total receipts, deduct the marketplace receipts already handled by your platform, and calculate any additional tax owed on direct bookings or gaps in platform coverage.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Austin's HOT penalty structure is automatic and escalates with time. Missing a filing deadline—even by a single day—triggers immediate financial consequences.

Initial penalty (Day 1 late): 5% of the tax amount due is assessed immediately when a report is not filed or payment is not made by the deadline.

Second penalty (Day 61): An additional 5% penalty is assessed on the 61st day past the due date on the outstanding tax balance.

Interest: Starting on the 61st day from the due date, delinquent taxes accrue interest at 10% per annum. Interest applies to the outstanding principal, not just the initial penalty.

Payment application order: Delinquent payments are applied to penalties and interest first, then to the underlying tax owed. This means a late payment may not fully clear your liability if penalties have accumulated.

These penalties apply to both zero-balance filings that aren't submitted and reports where the tax is underpaid. The city does not send warning notices before penalties attach—the deadline is the deadline.

For context on how HOT compliance fits into Austin's broader regulatory picture, the Austin STR compliance guide covers the full range of legal requirements including licensing, occupancy rules, and the July 2026 platform enforcement deadline.

Direct Bookings: Your Full Responsibility

If you accept any reservations outside of a major platform—whether through a personal website, by phone, through repeat guest referrals, or via any platform that doesn't collect and remit HOT on your behalf—you are solely responsible for the entire HOT obligation on those bookings.

That means:

• Collecting 11% City HOT from the guest at booking
• Collecting 6% State HOT from the guest at booking
• Including these amounts in your quarterly filings
• Remitting the City portion to Austin Financial Services
• Remitting the State portion to the Texas Comptroller

The platform collection rules changed the collection mechanism for platform bookings but created no exemption for direct revenue. Hosts who build direct booking channels over time—often a goal for experienced Austin operators reducing platform dependency—take on the full tax collection and remittance responsibility for that revenue stream.

Keep direct booking records meticulously: guest name, contact information, stay dates, amounts charged, and taxes collected. Austin requires STR operators to retain tax records, and the city can request documentation as part of license renewal or during an audit.

What Cleaning Fees and Taxes Look Like on a Sample Booking

To make the math concrete, here's how HOT applies on a straightforward Austin STR booking:

Sample booking:

• Nightly rate: $250 × 3 nights = $750
• Cleaning fee: $100
• Total taxable base (City HOT): $850 (nightly + cleaning)

City HOT collected (11%): $93.50State HOT collected (6%): $51.00 (on comparable taxable base)Total HOT on this booking: $144.50

For a platform booking, Airbnb collects $93.50 in City HOT and remits it to Austin. The State portion is also collected by the platform and remitted to the Comptroller. The host receives a payout of $750 + $100 cleaning fee minus platform service fees—with neither HOT amount in the payout because it was never the host's money to hold.

For a direct booking with the same numbers, the host collects the full $994.50 (base + cleaning + taxes) from the guest, then remits $93.50 to Austin and $51.00 to the Comptroller in the applicable quarterly filing.

HOT Compliance as Part of Professional Management

Quarterly filings, registration maintenance, platform reconciliation, and direct booking tax handling are exactly the kind of ongoing administrative obligations that accumulate over time and create compliance risk for self-managing hosts. The September and January filing deadlines fall during Austin's peak booking seasons—SXSW lead-up and post-holidays—when operational demands on hosts are highest.

Sora Stays' full-service Austin Airbnb management includes HOT documentation support as a standard part of our owner services. We track platform-collected amounts against quarterly filing requirements, flag direct booking revenue for proper tax treatment, and ensure the HOT reconciliation piece of every STR license renewal is complete. You receive clean monthly financials that separate platform HOT from base rental revenue, so the quarterly filing process is straightforward rather than a quarterly scramble.

For Austin owners reviewing their compliance picture or evaluating management options, start the conversation here or email info@sorastays.com. We'll walk through your current structure, identify any gaps, and show you what properly compliant, professionally managed hosting looks like for your property.

HOT Quick-Reference Summary

TaxRateCollected By (Platform Bookings)Collected By (Direct Bookings)Remit ToCity of Austin HOT11% (9% + 2% venue)Platform (since Apr 2025)HostAustin Financial ServicesState of Texas HOT6%Platform (since 2023)HostTexas ComptrollerCombined17%

Filing deadlines: April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31

Zero reports required: Yes, every quarter regardless of revenue

Contacts: City HOT — hotels@austintexas.gov / 512-974-2590 | State HOT — Texas Comptroller eSystems

Bottom TLDR:

‍Austin Hotel Occupancy Tax for Airbnb hosts totals 17%—11% city and 6% state—and while platforms now collect and remit both portions for bookings made through them, operators remain responsible for registering with both authorities, filing quarterly reports, and handling all taxes on direct bookings. Missing a quarterly filing, even a zero report, triggers automatic penalties starting at 5% of tax due. Register with the City of Austin and the Texas Comptroller before your first booking, then contact Sora Stays at sorastays.com to ensure ongoing HOT compliance is built into your property management.

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