Join Thousands of Hotels Thriving with roommaster
See how roommaster handles rates, taxes, and reporting for your property. Book a walkthrough with our team.
Table of Contents
Hotel And Lodging Tax In Arkansas 2026: TOT Rates By City
Arkansas charges a 2% state tourism tax on lodging plus a local A&P Commission tax that varies by city. This guide covers 2026 rates from Little Rock to Eureka Springs, exemptions, and filing deadlines.
August 28, 2026
8
min. read
Summarize with AI
TL;DR
- Arkansas adds a flat 2% state tourism tax to lodging statewide, on top of the 6.5% state sales tax and a local A&P Commission tax.
- Hotel tax, lodging tax, bed tax, occupancy tax, and TOT all refer to the same combined state and local charge in Arkansas.
- Local rates run from about 2% in Fayetteville, Bentonville, and Springdale to 4% in Little Rock and Jonesboro.
- Eureka Springs stacks two separate city ordinances, a 3% Hotel/Motel/Restaurant tax and a 3% A&P tax, for 6% in local tax alone.
- Any new or increased A&P tax must pass a public vote under Ark. Code § 26-75-602 before it takes effect.
- Stays of 30 days or more are generally exempt from both the state tourism tax and city A&P taxes.
- Some A&P Commissions, like North Little Rock's, give a 2% early-payment discount and charge a 5% late penalty.
- Airbnb and Vrbo remit Arkansas's state-level tax but often skip a specific city's A&P tax, leaving hosts to file it themselves.
How Arkansas's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Arkansas layers three separate charges on a hotel stay: the state's general sales tax, a dedicated 2% state tourism tax under Ark. Code Ann. § 26-63-402, and a local lodging tax set by a city or county Advertising and Promotion (A&P) Commission, a structure unique to Arkansas.
The A&P Commission system is created under Ark. Code Ann. § 26-75-601 et seq., which lets a city of the first or second class, or an incorporated town, form a commission and levy a gross receipts tax on hotels, motels, and short-term rentals to fund tourism advertising and promotion. Any new A&P tax, or any increase to an existing one, must go before voters at a special election under § 26-75-602 before it takes effect.
Coverage extends to hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, short-term condominium rentals, RV parks, and platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo. Nearly every Arkansas city ordinance and the state tourism tax itself define a taxable stay as one under 30 days, so month-to-month and longer stays generally fall outside the tax.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
On top of Arkansas's 6.5% state sales tax, the state tourism tax adds a flat 2% to lodging and prepared food statewide. Cities and counties then add their own A&P lodging tax on top of both, and the local rate is what varies most from one Arkansas market to the next.
| City / county | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eureka Springs | 6% | Two stacked city ordinances: a 3% Hotel/Motel/Restaurant tax plus a separate 3% A&P Commission tax, both on top of state tax. |
| Little Rock | 4% | A&P Commission lodging tax; funds the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau. |
| Jonesboro | 4% | City hotel and motel accommodations tax. |
| North Little Rock | 3.5% | A&P Commission tax; 30-day-or-longer stays are exempt by ordinance. |
| Fort Smith | 3% | A&P Commission lodging tax. |
| Hot Springs | 3% | A&P Commission tax on hotels, motels, and short-term condo rentals. |
| Fayetteville | 2% | Hotel/Motel/Restaurant (HMR) tax. |
| Bentonville | 2% | A&P Commission tax on hotel, motel, and short-term rental accommodations. |
| Springdale | 2% | A&P Commission lodging tax. |
| Statewide tourism tax | 2% | Ark. Code § 26-63-402; applies on top of every city rate above, statewide, in addition to the 6.5% state sales tax. |
Arkansas doesn't add a separate tourism marketing district or business improvement district charge on top of the A&P tax the way some other states do; the A&P Commission itself is the tourism marketing mechanism the legislature built directly into the lodging tax, so there's no extra district-level line item to look for on top of the rates above.
Eureka Springs is the clearest example of Arkansas's own version of stacking: its 3% Hotel/Motel/Restaurant tax and its 3% A&P Commission tax are two distinct city ordinances passed at different times, not one combined 6% rate, so they can appear as separate line items on an invoice.
Collection and Remittance
The guest pays the combined tax as part of the room rate, but the hotel, motel, or short-term rental operator collects it and is responsible for remitting it to the state and to the local A&P Commission separately.
Most Arkansas A&P Commissions require monthly filing, with the return and payment due by the last day of the month following the month the tax was collected. Several commissions, including North Little Rock's, offer operators a 2% discount for remitting by the 20th of the month, and charge a 5% penalty on late payments, an incentive structure not every state's local lodging tax uses.
Short-term rental platforms don't handle this consistently across Arkansas. Airbnb collects and remits state sales tax and the state tourism tax on bookings in Arkansas, but whether it also collects a specific city's A&P tax depends on whether that city has a separate agreement with the platform, so hosts in many Arkansas cities still need to register and file the local A&P tax themselves.
Exemptions From Arkansas's Hotel Tax
Arkansas's long-stay exemption applies once a guest's stay reaches 30 days or more, at which point the rental is treated as a non-transient lease rather than taxable lodging, both under the state tourism tax regulations and under most city A&P ordinances such as North Little Rock's.
To rely on the exemption, a property should have a lease or reservation record showing an intended stay of 30 days or longer from the outset; the exemption is generally tied to the terms of the rental agreement, not simply to how long a guest happens to stay after checking in night by night. Government employees traveling on official state or federal business may also be exempt from certain state and local taxes when they pay with a qualifying government purchase card or present proper documentation, though the exact paperwork requirement is set by each taxing authority rather than uniformly by state law.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Forgetting the state tourism tax is separate from the A&P tax. Some hotels bundle the 2% state tourism tax into their local A&P remittance or skip it entirely, when Ark. Code § 26-63-402 requires it to be tracked and remitted to the state on top of any city commission's tax.
- Missing a second local ordinance in cities like Eureka Springs. A property that only registers for the A&P Commission tax and overlooks the separate Hotel/Motel/Restaurant tax ordinance under-collects by half the local rate.
- Assuming Airbnb or Vrbo remits every layer of Arkansas tax. These platforms generally handle state-level tax but often don't cover every city's A&P tax, leaving hosts on the hook for a local filing they didn't know they needed.
- Waiving tax on a 30-day stay without a qualifying lease or reservation. Treating a guest as tax-exempt because they happened to stay a month, without paperwork showing that was the intended term from booking, is a common audit finding.
- Missing the early-payment discount, then getting hit by the late penalty anyway. Commissions like North Little Rock's reward filing by the 20th with a 2% discount and penalize late filing by 5%; a property on autopilot can miss both ends of that window.
- Not re-training front desk and reservations staff after a voter-approved rate change. Because Arkansas requires A&P tax increases to pass a special election under § 26-75-602, the effective date isn't always on a predictable annual cycle, and staff can keep quoting the old combined rate for weeks afterward.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of this is about software resolving a legal question, it's about keeping three or four separate tax layers straight across every Arkansas property a company runs. A property management system that supports multiple stacked tax codes per property, such as the state tourism tax, the state sales tax, and one or two local A&P-type charges, makes it easier to apply the full combined rate correctly at booking instead of relying on staff to remember every layer. Date-range revenue reporting also helps a finance team reconcile what was actually collected against what's owed to the state and to the local commission before each monthly deadline, and a booking engine that shows the full, tax-inclusive nightly rate upfront avoids the guest confusion that comes from Arkansas's multiple, differently named local taxes.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Arkansas have a statewide hotel tax rate?
Yes and no. Arkansas levies a flat 2% state tourism tax on lodging statewide under Ark. Code § 26-63-402, but the bigger share of what a guest pays is a local Advertising and Promotion (A&P) Commission tax that each city or county sets on its own, so the total rate still varies widely by location.
2. What is Arkansas's hotel tax?
Arkansas's hotel tax is a combination of the state's 6.5% general sales tax, a 2% state tourism tax, and a city or county A&P Commission lodging tax that ranges from about 2% to 4% (or more where two local ordinances stack, as in Eureka Springs).
3. What is Arkansas's lodging tax?
Arkansas's lodging tax is the same charge as its hotel tax. Hotel tax, lodging tax, bed tax, occupancy tax, and TOT all describe the combined state and local charge on a short-term hotel, motel, or short-term rental stay in Arkansas.
4. What is an A&P Commission in Arkansas?
An Advertising and Promotion Commission is a city or county body created under Ark. Code Ann. § 26-75-601 that levies and manages a local lodging (and often prepared food) tax, using the revenue to fund tourism marketing, convention centers, and visitor bureaus. It's the mechanism nearly every Arkansas city uses instead of a generic "hotel tax" ordinance.
5. Does a hotel tax increase in Arkansas need voter approval?
Yes, in most cases. Under Ark. Code § 26-75-602, a city that wants to levy a new A&P tax or raise an existing one must put the question to voters in a special election, and the tax only takes effect if a majority approves it.
6. Is there an exemption for long-term hotel stays in Arkansas?
Yes. Stays of 30 days or more are generally treated as non-transient and exempt from both the state tourism tax and most city A&P taxes, provided the lease or reservation shows that length of stay from the start rather than being decided after the fact.
7. How often do Arkansas hotels need to file and pay lodging tax?
Most A&P Commissions require monthly returns, due by the last day of the following month. Some commissions, such as North Little Rock's, offer a 2% discount for paying by the 20th of the month and charge a 5% penalty for late payment, so the exact deadline and any discount depend on the specific city.
