Hotel And Lodging Tax In Idaho 2026: TOT Rates By City

How Idaho's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works

Idaho taxes hotel, motel, vacation rental, and campground stays of 30 days or less through two statewide charges: a 6% sales tax and a 2% travel and convention tax under Idaho Code 67-4718, before any city adds its own rate on top.

The travel and convention tax is a gross receipts tax authorized by Title 67, Chapter 47 of the Idaho Code, and its proceeds fund the Idaho Department of Commerce's Tourism Development Division rather than city or county budgets. Idaho has no single unified "hotel tax." Instead, as many as four separate levies can apply to one room night: the state sales tax, the state travel and convention tax, a city's resort-city local-option tax, and, only in Boise and Idaho Falls, an auditorium district room tax.

Idaho Code sections 50-1044 and 50-1046 let a "resort city" with a population under 10,000 ask its own voters to approve a local-option nonproperty tax on lodging, liquor by the drink, and other retail sales, but only with a 60% supermajority, and the tax must carry a sunset date. Nearly every small resort town from Sandpoint to Stanley operates under this mechanism. Larger cities cannot use it at all: Boise and Idaho Falls instead fund a state-chartered auditorium district, capped by statute at 5% of hotel and motel room receipts under Idaho Code 67-4917B, a separate legal mechanism from a resort-city vote.

The tax applies to hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, vacation home rentals, condominiums, and space at private campgrounds and RV parks rented for 30 days or less. It does not apply to government-run campgrounds or to stays longer than the 30-day cutoff.

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Tax Rates and Extra Fees

Every taxable room in Idaho carries the same 8% state-level floor, the 6% sales tax plus the 2% travel and convention tax under Idaho Code 67-4718. What changes from city to city is whatever gets added on top, and that addition ranges from nothing at all to a local-option rate large enough to more than double the total bill.

The resort-city and auditorium-district amounts are not folded into the state sales tax line on a guest folio; they are separate levies with separate legal authority, and Idaho's smaller resort towns collect theirs directly rather than through the state. A property that reports its Sandpoint local-option tax as part of the 8% state-level charge is under-remitting to the city and over-remitting to the state, an error the Idaho State Tax Commission and the city can each flag independently since every authority audits its own take.

None of these add-on rates are permanent by default. Idaho law requires resort-city local-option taxes to carry an expiration date, so McCall's new lodging tax expires December 31, 2036 and Victor's expires July 1, 2036 unless voters renew them first. A property that bakes a local rate into its point-of-sale system without a calendar reminder for the sunset date risks either under-collecting when a renewal vote raises the rate, as Driggs did for 2026, or a compliance gap the year a tax quietly lapses.

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Collection and Remittance

Guests pay the tax at checkout, but the property is legally responsible for collecting it correctly and remitting it on time. The 6% sales tax and 2% travel and convention tax both go to the Idaho State Tax Commission on the same return, using the filing frequency, monthly, quarterly, or annual, that the Commission assigns based on the property's sales volume; monthly filers owe their return by the 20th of the following month. Auditorium district room tax in Boise and Idaho Falls is also administered through the state Tax Commission alongside that same return. Resort-city local-option tax works differently: it is collected under a permit issued by the city itself, not the state, and it is filed and remitted directly to the city's finance office on whatever schedule that city's ordinance sets, which means a property in Sandpoint, Ketchum, or McCall is filing two separate returns to two separate governments for the same room night. Airbnb and Vrbo remit Idaho's state sales tax and travel and convention tax automatically in most areas, but marketplace collection of resort-city local-option tax is inconsistent from city to city, so a property that also lists on a platform should confirm in writing whether the local portion is actually being remitted on its behalf or whether that filing remains the property's own responsibility.

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Exemptions From Idaho's Hotel Tax

Both the state sales tax and the state travel and convention tax exempt any stay that runs longer than 30 consecutive days in the same room or space, a threshold set directly in Idaho Code 67-4718. The exemption is not automatic the moment day 31 arrives: a property should keep the guest folio, reservation record, or a signed long-term-stay agreement on file showing the continuous 30-plus-day occupancy, since the burden of proof in an audit falls on the operator, not the guest. Idaho's resort-city local-option ordinances generally track the same 30-day cutoff for their own lodging component, though a property should confirm the exact wording in its own city's ordinance rather than assume it matches the state rule word for word. Government employees traveling on official business are not automatically exempt from Idaho's lodging taxes the way they are from sales tax on certain direct purchases; lodging tax exemption for government travel depends on the specific city or district's own rules, so front desk staff should not waive the tax based on a federal ID alone without checking the property's own exemption policy first.

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Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance

• Assuming one statewide rate covers everything. Idaho's state-level charge is only 8% (6% sales tax plus 2% travel and convention tax); a property that quotes guests that number in Sandpoint or Driggs will be short by 8 to 14 additional points once the resort-city tax is added.
• Filing the local-option amount to the wrong government. Resort-city lodging tax goes to the city's own finance office under a city-issued permit, not to the Idaho State Tax Commission with the state sales tax return; properties that lump all the tax into one state filing under-remit to the city.
• Missing a local-option rate change or sunset date. Driggs raised its rate to 8% and McCall introduced a new 6% lodging local-option tax, both effective January 1, 2026; a point-of-sale system still configured for the prior year's rate collects the wrong amount from every guest until someone catches it.
• Confusing an auditorium district with a resort-city tax. Boise and Idaho Falls fund a state-chartered auditorium district capped at 5% and filed through the state Tax Commission, a different legal mechanism and filing path than the resort-city local-option tax used in towns like Ketchum or Victor.
• Treating the 30-day exemption as automatic. Front desk staff sometimes stop charging tax the moment a guest mentions a month-long stay instead of waiting for the folio to actually show 31 continuous days and filing the paperwork an audit would ask for.
• Assuming a booking platform is remitting the local portion. Airbnb and Vrbo handle Idaho's state sales tax and travel and convention tax in most areas, but resort-city local-option tax remittance by these platforms varies by city, leaving a real gap if a host assumes it is covered without confirming.

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Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance

None of this is really about software so much as it is about not letting six different tax rates live in someone's memory. A property management system that lets a hotel configure separate tax codes for the state sales tax, the state travel and convention tax, and a city's own resort-city or auditorium-district rate, and update just the one that changes when a town like Driggs or McCall raises its rate, keeps front desk staff from having to manually calculate a stacked total on every folio. Revenue reports that break collections down by tax code and date range make it easier to reconcile what is owed to the state Tax Commission against what is owed separately to a city finance office, and a booking engine that shows the full stacked total upfront, rather than a bare room rate, avoids the guest-facing sticker shock a 22% total in a place like Sandpoint can otherwise cause at checkout.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does Idaho have a statewide hotel tax rate?

Idaho has a statewide 6% sales tax plus a 2% travel and convention tax that together apply to every taxable hotel, motel, vacation rental, and campground stay of 30 days or less, for a combined statewide floor of 8%. Beyond that floor, individual cities can add a resort-city local-option tax or, in Boise and Idaho Falls, an auditorium district room tax, so the total a guest actually pays depends heavily on which city the property sits in.

2. What is Idaho's hotel tax?

Idaho's hotel tax is really two separate statewide charges stacked together: the general 6% sales tax and a 2% travel and convention tax authorized under Idaho Code 67-4718, which funds the Idaho Department of Commerce's tourism marketing efforts rather than city services.

3. What is Idaho's lodging tax?

Idaho's lodging tax is the same charge as its hotel tax, occupancy tax, room tax, TOT, and bed tax. These are all different names for the combined 6% sales tax and 2% travel and convention tax that apply to short-term stays, plus whatever local-option or auditorium district rate a specific city has voted to add.

4. Which Idaho cities have the highest hotel tax rates?

Sandpoint currently has the highest total rate in Idaho at 22%, after voters doubled the city's resort-city tax from 7% to 14% effective January 1, 2023. Driggs, Victor, and McCall follow with total rates between 14% and 16% after recent local-option increases.

5. How long can a guest stay before Idaho's hotel tax no longer applies?

Idaho exempts stays longer than 30 consecutive days in the same room or space from both the state sales tax and the state travel and convention tax. A property should keep documentation, such as the reservation record or a signed long-term-stay agreement, showing the continuous stay to support the exemption in an audit.

6. Do Airbnb and Vrbo collect Idaho's hotel tax automatically?

Airbnb and Vrbo generally collect and remit Idaho's state sales tax and travel and convention tax on a host's behalf in most areas, but collection of a city's resort-city local-option tax is inconsistent from platform to platform and city to city, so hosts should confirm directly with the city whether that portion is actually being remitted for them.

7. What is the difference between an auditorium district tax and a resort-city local-option tax in Idaho?

An auditorium district tax, used only in Boise and Idaho Falls, is a state-chartered room tax capped at 5% and filed through the Idaho State Tax Commission alongside the regular state sales tax return. A resort-city local-option tax is a separate mechanism available only to cities with populations under 10,000 that win a 60% voter supermajority, has no statutory rate cap, and is filed directly with the city rather than the state.