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Hotel And Lodging Tax In New Jersey 2026: TOT Rates By City
New Jersey's state hotel fee actually drops in cities that already tax more heavily. See 2026 rates for Atlantic City, Newark, and the Shore, plus a new Newark-only fire surcharge starting 2026.
August 28, 2026
8
min. read
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TL;DR
- New Jersey layers a State Occupancy Fee, an ordinary 6.625% Sales Tax, and, in many towns, a separate local Municipal Occupancy Tax, rather than one single named hotel tax.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," "bed tax," and "State Occupancy Fee" all describe pieces of the same overall charge, but the exact combination differs city to city.
- Unusually, the state's own fee drops from 5% to as low as 1% in cities like Newark, Jersey City, and Atlantic City, specifically because those cities already impose their own heavier local tax.
- The long-stay exemption threshold is 90 consecutive days, not the common 30, and the stay has to be one unbroken block, not a cumulative total.
- New Jersey has no voter-referendum requirement for local occupancy taxes; municipal councils pass them by ordinary ordinance.
- State guidance issued in 2026, timed to New Jersey hosting World Cup matches, requires hotels to disclose the total price including mandatory fees before a guest pays.
- Starting January 2026, Newark alone adds a new $3-per-day fire-services surcharge, a New Jersey first tied to a specific statutory population-and-airport test.
How New Jersey's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
New Jersey doesn't have one single hotel tax. It layers a State Occupancy Fee, the state's ordinary 6.625% Sales Tax, and, in many towns, a separate Municipal Occupancy Tax adopted by local ordinance, and Newark, Jersey City, and Elizabeth each impose their own hotel tax under a different statute entirely.
There's no voter-referendum requirement here. A Municipal Occupancy Tax or local hotel tax is passed the same way as any other ordinance, by the city council after standard readings, capped at 3% for most towns. New Jersey does have a general citizen petition process that can force an already-passed ordinance to a public vote, but it's reactive, not a required approval before the tax takes effect.
What makes New Jersey's structure genuinely unusual: the state's own fee isn't flat. It drops from the standard 5% down to 1% in Atlantic City, Newark, Jersey City, and Elizabeth, and to 3.15% in the Wildwoods, specifically because those cities already stack their own heavier local tax, the state deliberately cut its own rate there rather than let two full-strength charges pile up.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because the state fee itself varies by city, and several towns add their own tax on top, the combined total looks very different depending on where the property sits. Here's where the major New Jersey markets stand as of 2026.
| City / area | Combined rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Wildwoods (Cape May County) | 13.625% | 6.625% state sales tax, a reduced 3.15% State Occupancy Fee, plus a 2% county tourism sales tax and 1.85% county tourism assessment unique to these three shore towns |
| Atlantic City | Stacked: 1% state fee + 9% AC Luxury Tax + 3.625% reduced sales tax + daily fees | Casino hotels also add a $2/day room occupancy surcharge and $3/day casino room fee on top of the percentage taxes |
| Newark | 6% city tax + 1% state fee + 6.625% sales tax | Starting January 2026, adds a separate $3/day fire-services surcharge under a law that currently applies only to Newark |
| Jersey City | 6% city tax + 1% state fee + 6.625% sales tax | City's tax was extended in 2020 to cover Airbnb-type bookings, not just traditional hotels |
| Elizabeth | ~6% city tax + 1% state fee + 6.625% sales tax | Exact city percentage not independently confirmed on the city's own page; treat as approximate pending direct verification |
| Ocean City (Cape May County) | 3% local tax + standard state fee and sales tax | Applies only to bookings made through an online marketplace like Airbnb; traditional hotels are explicitly exempt, a rule Airbnb has formally challenged |
| Cape May City | 3% local tax + standard state fee and sales tax | Not one of the Wildwoods towns, so it does not get the extra county tourism charges despite the shared county name |
| Asbury Park | 3% local tax + standard state fee and sales tax | One of the earlier Monmouth County shore towns to adopt the local tax |
| Princeton | 3% local tax + standard state fee and sales tax | Effective April 2026, showing the tax spreading to inland college towns, not just the shore |
| Brigantine City | 1.25% local tax + standard state fee and sales tax | Notably below the 3% cap most municipalities choose |
Rates change as individual towns adopt or update their ordinances, so treat this table as a starting point and confirm the current published rate with the specific municipality before filing.
A tourism-district-style stack does exist in New Jersey, but it's concentrated in two specific tourism zones rather than spread statewide. The Wildwoods carry a genuine 3.85-point combined tourism charge under the state's Tourism Improvement and Development District Act. Atlantic City's version is structured as flat per-room-night fees rather than a percentage. Hotels in the 14-municipality Hackensack Meadowlands District also carry their own separate 3% regional hotel assessment, filed on its own form, on top of whatever state and local tax otherwise applies.
Collection and Remittance
The guest pays the tax, and the property remits it, but the filing cadence genuinely differs by which charge and which government is collecting it. The combined state return covering Sales Tax, the State Occupancy Fee, and most Municipal Occupancy Taxes is filed monthly, due the 20th of the following month. The separate Meadowlands Regional Hotel Use Assessment uses its own monthly form, due by the 10th, required even with zero activity.
By contrast, Jersey City's own local 6% tax is remitted quarterly directly to the city, timed to the same due dates as property tax installments, meaning a Jersey City hotel is filing the state return monthly to Trenton while remitting the city's own tax quarterly to City Hall, two different cadences for two different governments on the same room-night.
New Jersey's Fee Transparency Rules
In 2026, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office and Division of Consumer Affairs jointly issued guidance for hotels and short-term rental hosts on junk fees and bait-and-switch pricing, timed explicitly to New Jersey hosting matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It requires the total price, including mandatory fees, to be clearly disclosed in listings and ads, with optional fees and government taxes not required to be baked into that headline number.
It also requires the final payment amount, including taxes and any add-ons, to be calculated and shown before a guest is asked to pay, and caps any credit-card surcharge at the business's actual processing cost. This is enforcement guidance applying the state's existing Consumer Fraud Act and the federal FTC rule, not a standalone hotel-specific statute, but it's current and specifically dated to 2026.
Exemptions From New Jersey's Hotel Tax
New Jersey's exemption threshold is 90 consecutive days, not the 30 days common in many other states, and it has to be one unbroken stay, not a cumulative total. The state's own guidance gives a worked example of a corporation that booked 100 total room-days across a year but did not qualify for the exemption because no single stay reached a continuous 90-day block. A pre-existing written agreement for 90 or more consecutive days lets a property skip charging from day one, but if the guest leaves early, the full tax liability becomes due retroactively.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Assuming the state fee is flat everywhere. New Jersey's own State Occupancy Fee drops as low as 1% in cities that already tax more heavily, using the standard 5% for a Newark or Atlantic City property overstates the state portion.
- Treating a 90-day cumulative stay as exempt. The exemption requires one continuous 90-day block, not a total of 90 days across separate visits.
- Missing Newark's new fire surcharge. The $3-per-day charge starting January 2026 currently applies only in Newark under a specific population-and-airport test, not statewide.
- Applying one city's local tax structure to another. Ocean City's local tax only applies to online marketplace bookings and exempts traditional hotels entirely, a structure very different from Newark's or Jersey City's flat percentage on all hotel stays.
- Confusing state and city filing cadences. A Jersey City property files the state return monthly but remits the city's own tax quarterly, missing either deadline creates a real compliance gap.
- Not retraining front desk staff after a new charge takes effect. When a new local tax or surcharge like Newark's fire fee starts, staff quoting the old total creates disputes at checkout.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of the above is about software. It's about a New Jersey property tracking which combination of state fee, sales tax, local tax, and any district or per-night surcharge actually applies to its specific city, since the state's own fee changes depending on where the property sits. Where a PMS actually helps is in keeping each charge configured as its own tax code, and pulling revenue reports by date range for whichever filing cadence each government requires. roommaster lets properties configure tax codes per rate and per jurisdiction, so a new local ordinance or surcharge like Newark's is a configuration update once, not a manual recalculation on every folio.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does New Jersey have a statewide hotel tax rate?
Not one flat rate. New Jersey combines a State Occupancy Fee, which itself varies by city, with the ordinary sales tax and, in many towns, a separate local Municipal Occupancy Tax.
2. What is New Jersey's hotel tax?
New Jersey's hotel tax is a combination of charges: the State Occupancy Fee, sales tax, and often a local Municipal Occupancy Tax, with the exact mix depending on the specific city.
3. What is New Jersey's lodging tax?
Lodging tax is the same general charge as New Jersey's hotel tax, just a different common name for the combination of state and local occupancy charges.
4. Why is New Jersey's state hotel fee lower in some cities?
The standard 5% State Occupancy Fee drops to as low as 1% in cities like Newark, Jersey City, and Atlantic City because those cities already impose their own heavier local hotel tax, and the state cut its own rate to avoid double-stacking.
5. How long can a guest stay in New Jersey before the hotel tax stops applying?
90 consecutive days, and it has to be one unbroken stay. A guest with several shorter stays adding up to 90 days doesn't qualify.
6. Does New Jersey require hotels to disclose the total price before booking?
Yes, under 2026 state guidance tied to the World Cup, hotels must disclose the total price including mandatory fees before a guest pays, though optional fees and government taxes don't have to be folded into the headline price.
7. Who is responsible for collecting and remitting New Jersey's hotel tax?
The property collects the applicable charges from the guest and remits them, with the state-level return filed monthly, while some cities like Jersey City require their own local tax to be remitted quarterly, separately.
