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Hotel And Lodging Tax In North Dakota 2026: TOT Rates By City
North Dakota's hotel tax starts at a 5% state sales tax, with cities layering a lodging tax and a lodging-and-restaurant tax on top, pushing combined 2026 rates in cities like Mandan and Bismarck above 11%.
August 28, 2026
11
min. read
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TL;DR
- North Dakota's only statewide charge on hotel rooms today is the general 5% sales tax; a separate 1% statewide hotel tax existed from 2003 to 2007 and was allowed to expire.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," "bed tax," "room tax," and "TOT" all describe the same North Dakota charge.
- Cities can add up to 2% under a "city lodging tax" ordinance and an additional 1% under a separate "city lodging and restaurant tax" ordinance, both passed by city council without a required upfront vote.
- Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot each currently charge a 3% city lodging tax, administered directly by the city rather than the state Tax Commissioner.
- Stays of 30 or more consecutive days by the same individual are exempt from both state and local lodging tax, but any break in that continuous stay restarts the clock entirely.
- North Dakota's own tax guideline lists "man camps" as a taxable lodging facility type, reflecting the state's oil-patch economy in cities like Williston and Watford City.
- Minot charges a flat $1-per-day "Extended Stay Leisure Fee" on stays too long to owe the percentage-based lodging tax.
- Mandan currently carries the highest total combined rate found, at 11.25%, once state, county, city sales, and both city lodging levies are added together.
How North Dakota's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
North Dakota taxes hotel, motel, and other lodging stays of less than 30 days at the same 5% rate as its general sales tax, and currently has no separate statewide hotel-only tax; cities then layer their own lodging tax and lodging-and-restaurant tax ordinances on top under North Dakota Century Code chapter 40-57.3.
North Dakota did once have a dedicated statewide hotel tax: a 1% tax on gross receipts from hotel, motel, and tourist court rentals of less than 30 days, excluding bed and breakfasts, was in effect from July 2003 through June 2007 before it was allowed to expire. Today the only state-level charge on a hotel room is the ordinary sales tax.
Local add-ons come from two separate ordinances a city council can pass on its own, without first putting the question to voters. Section 40-57.3-01 lets any city impose up to a 2% city lodging tax, with proceeds restricted to a visitors' promotion fund and barred from capital construction spending. A separate section, 40-57.3-01.1, lets a city add up to an additional 1% city lodging and restaurant tax, which can also apply to restaurant meals, funds a capital construction account, and can be pledged to pay off bonds. That second tax isn't put to voters in advance either, but residents can force a referendum by petition within 64 days of the ordinance passing.
The tax applies to hotels, motels, resorts, hunting cabins, rooming houses, trailer camps, campgrounds renting cabins or campers, vacation home rentals, and, reflecting North Dakota's oil-patch economy, man camps. Additional charges like extra-person fees, pet fees, crib and rollaway fees, and reservation or damage fees are all taxed as part of the room charge, not treated as separate untaxed items.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
A room's total tax rate in North Dakota depends on stacking as many as five separate levies: the 5% state rate, a county sales tax where one applies, a city sales tax, a city lodging tax, and a city lodging and restaurant tax where the city has adopted one.
| City / county | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mandan | 11.25% | 5% state + 1% Morton County sales tax + 2.25% city sales tax + 2% city lodging tax + 1% city lodging and restaurant tax |
| Bismarck | 11% | 5% state + 1% Burleigh County sales tax + 2% city sales tax + 2% city lodging tax + 1% city lodging and restaurant tax |
| Williston | 11% | 5% state + 1% Williams County sales tax + 2% city sales tax + 2% city lodging tax + 1% city lodging and restaurant tax |
| Fargo | 10.75% | 5% state + 0.5% Cass County sales tax + 2.25% city sales tax + 3% city lodging tax, administered by the city |
| Grand Forks | 10.5% | 5% state + 2.25% city sales tax + 3% city lodging tax, administered by the city + 0.25% city lodging and restaurant tax |
| Minot | 10.5% | 5% state + 0.5% Ward County sales tax + 2% city sales tax + 3% city lodging tax, administered by the city; long stays owe a $1/day fee instead |
| Devils Lake | 10.5% | 5% state + 2.5% city sales tax + 2% city lodging tax + 1% city lodging and restaurant tax |
| Jamestown | 10.5% | 5% state + 2.5% city sales tax + 2% city lodging tax + 1% city lodging and restaurant tax |
| Dickinson | 9.5% | 5% state + 1.5% city sales tax + 2% city lodging tax + 1% city lodging and restaurant tax |
| Watford City | 9.5% | 5% state + 1.5% city sales tax + 2% city lodging tax + 1% city lodging and restaurant tax |
Most of these local lodging taxes are collected by the property and remitted to the North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner, which administers them for the whole state except in Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Valley City, and West Fargo. Those five cities run their own local lodging tax collection directly rather than through the state, so a property in one of them should confirm the current rate and filing process with the city itself rather than assuming it matches the state's published local tax guideline.
The lodging tax and the lodging-and-restaurant tax are also legally distinct from each other and from the general sales tax, even though all three usually show up as separate lines on the same combined bill. A county generally can't layer its own lodging tax or lodging-and-restaurant tax inside a city that already imposes a matching one of its own, which is why Williston's total stacks its own 2% lodging tax and its own 1% lodging-and-restaurant tax rather than Williams County's versions of the same two levies.
Collection and Remittance
Guests pay the tax at checkout, and the property is legally responsible for collecting and remitting it. For most North Dakota cities, the state sales tax, city sales tax, county sales tax, city lodging tax, and city lodging and restaurant tax are all reported to the Office of State Tax Commissioner, though the lodging-specific taxes are filed on separate forms from the general sales and use tax return. Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Valley City, and West Fargo are the exceptions: those cities administer their own lodging tax collection, so a property there is filing with the city in addition to the state. When the state Tax Commissioner does collect a city's lodging tax, it withholds a 3% administrative fee from what it remits to the city to cover collection costs. Marketplace facilitators, including short-term rental platforms, have been required to collect and remit North Dakota's state and local sales and lodging taxes since October 1, 2019 once their North Dakota sales exceed $100,000 in the current or prior year; a homeowner renting through a platform is only relieved of the collection duty if the platform's contract explicitly states it is the one remitting the tax.
Exemptions From North Dakota's Hotel Tax
North Dakota exempts a lodging stay from sales and lodging tax once the same individual occupies the same room continuously for 30 or more consecutive days, but the rule is stricter than it looks. Any break in that continuous occupancy, even a single night, restarts the clock and makes the entire stay taxable again from day one; a guest who stays 29 days, checks out, and returns the next week for 20 more days owes tax on both stretches, even though the combined total passes 30 days. The exemption also tracks the individual, not the room or the payer: a company that rents a room for 60 consecutive days but rotates three different employees through it, each for 20 days, owes tax on the full stay because no single individual occupied it for 30 continuous days. If tax was collected during the qualifying period before the 30-day threshold was met, the property must refund it once the guest reaches day 30. Government agencies are exempt, but only when the charge is billed to and paid by the government directly, such as by warrant, check, or a centrally billed card; if an employee pays out of pocket and gets reimbursed later, the stay is fully taxable regardless of the traveler's purpose. Minot adds a wrinkle for long-term guests: stays too long to owe the city's percentage-based lodging tax are instead charged a flat $1-per-day Extended Stay Leisure Fee, so a 30-plus-day guest there isn't paying nothing, just a different, smaller charge.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Treating a broken stay as continuous. North Dakota restarts the 30-day exemption clock the moment a guest checks out, even briefly; two stays that add up to more than 30 days are both fully taxable if neither one alone reached the threshold.
- Exempting a company-held room without checking who actually stayed in it. The exemption depends on the same individual occupying the room for 30 continuous days, not on the length of a company's reservation, so a room used by rotating employees stays taxable even after 60 days of company billing.
- Assuming the state Tax Commissioner administers every city's lodging tax. Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Valley City, and West Fargo collect their own lodging tax directly; a multi-property operator relying only on the state's published local tax guideline will miss these five cities' current rates and filing requirements.
- Exempting a reimbursed government traveler who paid personally. North Dakota's government exemption only applies when the charge is billed to and paid directly by the government entity; an employee who pays with a personal card and gets reimbursed still owes tax.
- Not distinguishing the city lodging tax from the city lodging and restaurant tax. These are two separate ordinances with separate funding restrictions and separate filing forms; a property that lumps them into one line risks misreporting which fund the money is owed to.
- Forgetting Minot's Extended Stay Leisure Fee on long stays. A guest who qualifies for Minot's 30-day lodging tax exemption still owes the flat $1-per-day fee, and a front desk that stops charging anything at all once the exemption kicks in is under-collecting.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of this is really about software so much as it is about tracking which of up to five separate tax lines apply to a given room, and for how long a specific guest has actually stayed. A property management system that lets a hotel configure separate tax codes for the state rate, any county tax, the city sales tax, the city lodging tax, and a city lodging and restaurant tax, and that flags a booking the moment a stay crosses the 30-day threshold, takes the guesswork out of a front desk trying to remember North Dakota's continuous-occupancy rule in the middle of a shift. Revenue reports that separate collections by tax code make it far easier to reconcile the state return against a locally filed lodging tax return in cities like Fargo or Minot, and a booking engine that shows the full stacked total upfront helps guests understand a bill that can otherwise look inconsistent from one North Dakota city to the next.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does North Dakota have a statewide hotel tax rate?
North Dakota's only current statewide charge on hotel and motel rooms is the general 5% sales tax; there is no separate state-level hotel tax today. A dedicated 1% statewide hotel tax existed from 2003 to 2007 but was allowed to expire, and cities can still add their own local lodging tax and lodging-and-restaurant tax on top of the 5% state rate.
2. What is North Dakota's hotel tax?
North Dakota's hotel tax is the 5% state sales tax applied to gross receipts from hotel, motel, and other lodging stays of less than 30 days, combined with whatever city lodging tax, of up to 2%, and city lodging and restaurant tax, of up to an additional 1%, the specific city has adopted under North Dakota Century Code chapter 40-57.3.
3. What is North Dakota's lodging tax?
North Dakota's lodging tax is the same charge as its hotel tax, occupancy tax, bed tax, room tax, and TOT. All of these terms describe the combined state sales tax and any city-level lodging tax charged on a short-term room rental.
4. Which North Dakota cities have the highest hotel tax rates?
Mandan currently has one of the highest confirmed totals at roughly 11.25%, once the state rate, Morton County's sales tax, Mandan's city sales tax, and both of Mandan's lodging-related taxes are added together. Bismarck and Williston follow closely at around 11%.
5. How does North Dakota's 30-day stay exemption work?
A guest is exempt from state and local lodging tax only after the same individual occupies the same room for 30 or more consecutive days. Any break in that continuous occupancy restarts the count from zero, and the exemption follows the individual guest rather than the length of a company's reservation.
6. Do Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot collect hotel tax the same way as the rest of North Dakota?
No. Most North Dakota cities have their lodging tax collected and administered by the North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner, but Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Valley City, and West Fargo administer their own city lodging tax directly, so properties in those cities should confirm rates and filing requirements with the city rather than the state's published local tax list.
7. Do short-term rental platforms collect North Dakota's hotel tax automatically?
Marketplace facilitators, including short-term rental platforms, must collect and remit North Dakota's state and local sales and lodging taxes once their sales into the state exceed $100,000 in the current or prior calendar year. A host is only relieved of collecting the tax personally if their contract with the platform specifically states the platform is responsible for remitting it.
