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 Maine 2026: TOT Rates By City
Maine is one of the few states with a single, flat statewide hotel tax and no local add-ons anywhere. See the 2026 rate, the 28-day exemption, and why Portland built a tourism district instead of a tax.
August 28, 2026
6
min. read
Summarize with AI
TL;DR
- Maine has no separately named hotel tax; lodging is taxed as part of the state Sales and Use Tax at a special 9% rate, set entirely by the legislature.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," and "bed tax" all describe this same charge in Maine, and unlike most states, the rate is identical everywhere.
- Maine is a true single-rate state: no city, town, or county can add anything on top of the 9% state rate, by law.
- The long-stay exemption threshold is 28 consecutive days, not the more common 30, and tax collected during that initial period must be refunded once the exemption is established.
- Because towns can't levy a lodging tax, Portland instead built a 1.5% hotel self-assessment district under a separate state development-district law, not a tax.
- No fee-transparency law currently applies to Maine hotels; a bill requiring it was rejected by the legislature in 2025.
- Filing cadence is set per business based on liability, not by city, and can range from monthly down to annual.
How Maine's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Maine has no separately branded hotel or lodging tax. It's built directly into the state Sales and Use Tax as a special 9% rate on the rental of living quarters in a hotel, rooming house, or tourist camp, administered by Maine Revenue Services through the same system as ordinary retail sales tax.
Maine has no voter-referendum requirement for this tax, and for a specific reason: state law simply doesn't authorize any city, town, or county to levy a local-option lodging tax at all, with or without a vote. The 9% rate set by the legislature is the only rate that exists anywhere in the state.
The tax applies to hotels, rooming houses, and tourist or trailer camps statewide, with no local variation.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because Maine law blocks any municipality from adding to the state rate, there's no city-by-city rate table to build the way there is in most states. Every jurisdiction in Maine pays the identical 9%.
| Location | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Statewide (every city, town, and county) | 9% | Set entirely by state statute; no municipality has authority to add any local amount, by law |
Repeated attempts to change this have failed. A 2025 bill that would have let towns add up to 2% on top of the state rate was rejected by both the House and Senate after hospitality-industry testimony argued it would create a competitive disadvantage.
Because towns can't tax lodging directly, Portland instead built Maine's first hotel self-assessment district under a separate state development-district law: the Portland Tourism Development District charges a 1.5% assessment, calculated from occupancy and average daily rate, but only on non-seasonal hotels with 40 or more rooms. It's not a tax and doesn't apply statewide.
Collection and Remittance
The guest pays the 9% tax, and the property remits it, but the filing cadence is set per business based on its own average monthly liability, not by city. Most active retailers file monthly, due the 15th of the following month. A property averaging $100 to $599.99 a month in liability can qualify for quarterly filing, one averaging under $100 a month but over $50 a year for semiannual filing, and one under $50 a year for a single annual return.
Exemptions From Maine's Hotel Tax
Maine's exemption threshold is 28 consecutive days, not the 30 days common in many other states. A guest who resides continuously for 28 days or more at one hotel, rooming house, or tourist camp is exempt, as long as they don't maintain a primary residence elsewhere. Tax collected during that initial 28-day window has to be refunded by the property once the exemption is established.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Assuming a 30-day exemption threshold. Maine's actual threshold is 28 consecutive days, a property using the more common 30-day rule is holding the exemption back two days longer than the law allows.
- Not refunding tax collected during the qualifying period. Once a guest's stay reaches 28 days, tax collected for that initial window has to be refunded, not just waived going forward.
- Confusing Portland's tourism district with a citywide tax. The 1.5% assessment only applies to non-seasonal Portland hotels with 40 or more rooms, not every property in the city.
- Assuming any Maine city has a local lodging tax. No Maine municipality has the legal authority to add to the state's 9% rate.
- Confusing short-term rental registration fees with tax. Portland's and Bar Harbor's per-unit registration fees are municipal licensing charges, not part of the 9% lodging tax.
- Not watching for legislative changes. A local-option lodging tax has been proposed and rejected multiple times, most recently in 2025.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of the above is about software, Maine's flat, single statewide rate is actually one of the simpler tax setups in this cluster. Where a PMS still helps is in tracking the 28-day exemption correctly, including issuing the refund for the qualifying period once it's reached, and, for a large Portland property, keeping the separate 1.5% tourism district assessment configured apart from the 9% state tax. roommaster lets properties configure tax codes per rate and per assessment, so a Portland property's district fee and state tax stay distinct on every folio.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Maine have a statewide hotel tax rate?
Yes, and it's the only rate that applies anywhere in the state. Maine charges a flat 9% lodging tax statewide, with no city or county allowed to add anything on top.
2. What is Maine's hotel tax?
Maine's hotel tax is a special 9% rate within the state's Sales and Use Tax, applied to the rental of living quarters in a hotel, rooming house, or tourist camp.
3. What is Maine's lodging tax?
Lodging tax is the same charge as Maine's hotel tax, just a different common name for it. It's the identical 9% statewide rate, not a separately set local figure.
4. Do Maine cities charge their own hotel tax on top of the state rate?
No. Maine law doesn't give any city, town, or county the authority to add a local lodging tax, so the 9% state rate is the only rate anywhere in Maine.
5. How long can a guest stay in Maine before the hotel tax stops applying?
28 consecutive days. Tax collected during that initial period must be refunded once the exemption is established with a signed affidavit.
6. What is Portland's Tourism Development District?
It's a 1.5% hotel self-assessment, not a tax, that applies only to non-seasonal Portland hotels with 40 or more rooms.
7. Who is responsible for collecting and remitting Maine's hotel tax?
The property collects the 9% tax from the guest and remits it to Maine Revenue Services, on a schedule based on its own average liability, ranging from monthly for most properties down to annual for very small filers.
