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Hotel And Lodging Tax In Alaska 2026: TOT Rates By City
Alaska has no state sales tax or statewide hotel tax: every rate is set locally. This guide covers 2026 bed tax rates by city, from Anchorage to Kodiak, plus exemptions and filing rules.
August 28, 2026
8
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TL;DR
- Alaska has no state sales tax and no statewide hotel tax; every rate is set locally by a city, borough, or both.
- Hotel tax, lodging tax, bed tax, room tax, occupancy tax, and TOT all mean the same local charge in Alaska.
- Rates range from 2.5% in Homer to 17% in the City of Kodiak, where a borough tax and a city tax both apply to the same room.
- Anchorage's 12% room tax is split by ordinance into thirds for the general fund, convention center bonds, and Visit Anchorage marketing.
- Juneau's 9% hotel-motel tax includes a temporary 2-point increase that Juneau voters approved in 2019 and that sunsets December 31, 2034.
- Most municipalities exempt stays of 30 or more consecutive days from bed tax, provided the property has documentation on file.
- Alaska's Commercial Passenger Vessel Excise Tax on cruise ships is a separate state charge, not part of any hotel's lodging tax.
- OTA platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo only auto-remit in some Alaska municipalities, so hosts elsewhere must file directly.
How Alaska's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Alaska has no state sales tax and no statewide hotel tax. Cities and boroughs each set their own bed tax, hotel-motel tax, or transient accommodations tax on hotels, motels, B&Bs, and short-term rentals, usually for stays under 30 days, under state law and local home-rule authority.
Local taxing power comes from Alaska Statutes Title 29 (Municipal Government), specifically AS 29.45.650 through AS 29.45.700, which lets boroughs and cities adopt a sales, use, or bed tax by ordinance. Because Alaska is a strong home-rule state, many municipalities also write their own hotel-motel tax chapters directly into local code, such as Anchorage Municipal Code Chapter 12.20 or City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) Code Chapter 69.07.
Coverage is broad: hotels, motels, inns, bed and breakfasts, lodges, RV parks, and short-term rentals booked through Airbnb or Vrbo are generally all taxable if the stay is short-term, which almost every municipal code defines as fewer than 30 consecutive days.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because Alaska has no state rate to build from, the total a guest pays depends entirely on which city or borough the property sits in, and in a handful of places, on two separate local governments taxing the same room.
| City / county | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| City of Kodiak | 17% | Kodiak Island Borough's 5% transient accommodations tax plus the City of Kodiak's own 12% bed tax, both collected on the same stay. |
| Juneau (CBJ) | 14% | 5% CBJ sales tax plus a 9% hotel-motel room tax; voters raised the room tax from 7% to 9% in a 2019 ballot measure, with the extra 2 points set to sunset December 31, 2034. |
| Anchorage | 12% | Municipal Code Chapter 12.20 room tax; revenue is split by ordinance into thirds for the general fund, convention center bond debt, and Visit Anchorage marketing. |
| City of Ketchikan | 11% | Ketchikan Gateway Borough's 4% transient occupancy tax plus the city's own 7% add-on; Saxman, also inside the borough, totals 4%. |
| Fairbanks | 8% | Hotel-motel room tax under Fairbanks North Star Borough Code Chapter 8.48. |
| Denali Borough | 7.5% | Overnight accommodations tax; funds services for the borough's Denali National Park entrance-area lodging corridor. |
| Valdez | 6% | Public Accommodation Tax. |
| Sitka | 6% | Bed tax applies year-round to stays under 30 days. |
| Matanuska-Susitna Borough (Wasilla, Palmer) | 5% | Bed tax collected and remitted to the borough quarterly. |
| Homer | 2.5% | City ordinance 15-13; covers hotels, motels, inns, and B&Bs. |
Alaska's major tourism markets do not layer a separate tourism marketing district or business improvement district charge on top of the bed tax the way some Lower 48 cities do. Instead, several municipalities fold tourism funding directly into the base bed tax rate through an earmarking ordinance, the way Anchorage dedicates a third of its 12% room tax straight to Visit Anchorage's marketing budget rather than adding a separate line-item fee.
Where a borough and an incorporated city inside it both operate hotel or transient accommodations tax ordinances, as in Kodiak and Ketchikan, the two taxes are legally distinct, filed separately, and both appear as separate line items on the guest folio, not combined into one rate.
Collection and Remittance
Guests pay the tax as part of the room charge, but the hotel, motel, or short-term rental operator is the party legally responsible for collecting it, filing returns, and remitting the money to the correct city or borough treasury.
Filing cadence varies by jurisdiction rather than following one statewide schedule. Anchorage requires quarterly room tax returns and payments due within 30 days of each calendar quarter's end, with monthly informational returns due for the first two months of each quarter. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough also collects on a quarterly basis. Smaller municipalities may set monthly, quarterly, or even semi-annual filing depending on their own code.
Short-term rental platforms do not remit uniformly across Alaska. Airbnb and Vrbo have voluntary tax agreements with some Alaska municipalities but not all of them, so a property listed in a city without a platform agreement still needs the host or property manager to register and file directly with that city or borough.
Exemptions From Alaska's Hotel Tax
The long-stay exemption is the most consistent rule across Alaska's municipal codes: a guest who occupies the same room for 30 or more consecutive days is generally treated as a resident tenant rather than a transient guest, and the stay becomes exempt from bed tax starting either from day one of a documented long-term reservation or once the 30-day threshold is reached, depending on the specific city or borough code.
Properties should keep signed long-term occupancy agreements or reservation records on file to support any exemption claimed, since a verbal understanding that a guest "is staying a while" is not proof for an auditor. Federal government employees traveling on official business are exempt from local bed tax in some Alaska municipalities when they present a valid government travel order or purchase order at check-in; the exact documentation requirement is set locally, so hotels should confirm the rule with each city or borough where they operate rather than assuming it is uniform statewide.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Missing the second layer of tax in a stacked jurisdiction. Properties in the City of Kodiak or the City of Ketchikan sometimes remit only the city's bed tax and overlook the separate borough-level transient accommodations tax that applies to the same room, or vice versa.
- Treating a voter-approved rate as temporary when it isn't, or permanent when it is. Juneau's 2019 ballot measure raised the hotel-motel tax from 7% to 9%, but that extra 2 points is scheduled to expire December 31, 2034; a hotel that doesn't track that date risks either overcharging guests after the sunset or undercharging if the sunset gets extended by a future vote.
- Confusing the state cruise ship passenger tax with local hotel tax. Alaska's Commercial Passenger Vessel Excise Tax under AS 43.52 is a separate state-level charge on cruise passengers, not a hotel or lodging tax; front desk staff sometimes mistakenly cite it when a guest asks why their bed tax is what it is.
- Assuming an OTA remits automatically everywhere. Airbnb and Vrbo only have tax collection agreements with some Alaska municipalities, so a rural or smaller-market property that assumes the platform is filing on its behalf can end up with an unfiled balance the city eventually flags.
- Granting the long-stay exemption without paperwork. Waiving bed tax on a 30-plus-day guest without a signed long-term agreement or reservation record on file is a common finding in local tax audits.
- Not updating point-of-sale and booking engine rates after a ballot measure or ordinance change. Because Alaska rate changes are often decided by municipal election rather than a predictable annual schedule, properties can miss the effective date and undercollect for weeks before catching the error.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of this is about software fixing a legal problem, it's about reducing the manual tracking a property has to do across dozens of different Alaska city and borough rates. A property management system that lets a hotel configure separate tax codes per jurisdiction, including stacked borough-plus-city rates, makes it easier to apply the correct combined rate automatically instead of relying on someone remembering both layers. Revenue reports filtered by date range help a front office team reconcile what was actually collected against what's owed before a quarterly or monthly filing deadline, and a booking engine that displays the full nightly rate including local tax upfront reduces the guest-facing confusion that comes with Alaska's patchwork of city and borough rates.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Alaska have a statewide hotel tax rate?
No. Alaska has no state sales tax and no statewide hotel or lodging tax. Every rate is set locally by a city, borough, or both, which is why rates range from 2.5% in Homer to 17% in the City of Kodiak.
2. What is Alaska's hotel tax?
Alaska's hotel tax, sometimes called a bed tax, room tax, or transient accommodations tax depending on the municipality, is a local charge added to the cost of a hotel, motel, or short-term rental stay, typically for reservations under 30 days. There is no single "Alaska hotel tax" rate since it is set city by city and borough by borough.
3. What is Alaska's lodging tax?
Alaska's lodging tax is the same charge as its hotel or bed tax, just a different name for it. Hotel tax, lodging tax, bed tax, room tax, transient occupancy tax, and TOT all refer to the same local levy on short-term stays in Alaska; there is no separate additional tax hiding behind the different names.
4. How much is hotel tax in Anchorage?
Anchorage charges a 12% room tax under Municipal Code Chapter 12.20. By ordinance, the revenue is split roughly into thirds between the municipal general fund, Anchorage Convention Centers bond debt and operations, and Visit Anchorage's tourism marketing budget.
5. Do Alaska cities and boroughs ever charge two separate bed taxes on the same stay?
Yes, in some places. A hotel inside the City of Kodiak pays both the Kodiak Island Borough's 5% transient accommodations tax and the city's own 12% bed tax, for a combined 17%. The City of Ketchikan works the same way, with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough's 4% plus the city's 7% totaling 11%.
6. Is there an exemption for long-term hotel stays in Alaska?
Most Alaska municipal codes exempt stays of 30 or more consecutive days from bed tax, treating the guest as a resident tenant rather than a transient occupant once that threshold is met or documented. Properties should keep a signed long-term reservation or occupancy agreement on file to support the exemption if it's ever audited.
7. How often do Alaska hotels need to file and pay bed tax?
It depends on the city or borough. Anchorage requires quarterly room tax returns with monthly informational filings for the first two months of each quarter, while the Matanuska-Susitna Borough also files quarterly. Other municipalities set their own monthly or quarterly schedules in local code, so a hotel operating in more than one Alaska jurisdiction needs to track each one separately.
