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Hotel And Lodging Tax In Quebec City 2026: Lodging Tax Rate And Rules
Quebec City charges Quebec's standard 3.5% Tax on Lodging, collected for the Office du tourisme de Québec. Here is the rate, remittance path, and 2026 short-term rental rules for hotels and Airbnbs.
September 12, 2026
9
min. read
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TL;DR
- Quebec City does not set its own hotel tax rate. It charges the provincial Tax on Lodging (taxe sur l'hébergement) at 3.5% of the nightly room price, the same charge that applies across 20 of Quebec's other participating tourism regions.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax" and "taxe sur l'hébergement" are the same charge here. Quebec City has not added any separately branded municipal tax on top of it.
- The city sits in the "Québec" tourism region, administered by the Office du tourisme de Québec, which is a different regional recipient than Montreal's Tourisme Montréal even though the tax rate is identical.
- When the province standardized the rate at 3.5% in November 2016, that was actually an increase for this specific region, up from 3% previously, according to the Office du tourisme de Québec's own director at the time.
- A hotel just across the St. Lawrence River in Lévis remits its tax on lodging under the Chaudière-Appalaches tourism region, not the Québec region, even though the two cities face each other across the water.
- On top of the 3.5% tax on lodging, guests also pay 5% GST and 9.975% QST, both calculated on the total including the tax on lodging.
- Stays of 32 consecutive nights or more are exempt from the tax on lodging.
- Renting a principal residence to tourists in Quebec City is capped at 90 nights per calendar year, and requires a municipal certificate of authorization before a host can even apply for the provincial CITQ registration.
How Quebec City's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Quebec City's hotel tax is Quebec's provincial Tax on Lodging, applied here because the city falls within the "Québec" tourism region, one of the 21 regions (out of 22 total) where the regional tourism association asked the provincial government to apply it. That association is the Office du tourisme de Québec, and it is the organization that actually receives the money Revenu Québec collects here, not the city government directly. The rate is 3.5% of the price of an overnight stay, the same rate charged in Montreal and every other participating region, because the rate was standardized province-wide on November 1, 2016.
That standardization is worth dwelling on for this city specifically. Before November 2016, the Québec region charged 3%, one percentage point below where things stand today counting the increase, and the Office du tourisme de Québec's director at the time said the change added several hundred thousand dollars a year in revenue for local tourism marketing. Under the current revenue-sharing arrangement, the Office keeps most of what it collects to market Quebec City as a destination but passes on 15% of the total to the Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec, a provincial, non-governmental body that promotes Quebec internationally.
The tax applies to hotels, motels, and short-term rentals registered under Quebec's Loi sur l'hébergement touristique, and does not apply to campsites, youth tourist accommodation, or bookings of 6 hours or less. Quebec City has also layered its own municipal permitting requirements on top of the provincial registration system for short-term rentals, which is covered in more detail below.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
A hotel bill in Quebec City carries the same three tax components as the rest of participating Quebec, with no additional city-specific rate.
| Component | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tax on lodging (taxe sur l'hébergement) | 3.5% of the nightly room price | Applies because the Québec tourism region requested it. This was 3% before the province standardized rates on November 1, 2016. |
| GST (federal) | 5% | Charged on the total price, including the tax on lodging. |
| QST (Quebec sales tax) | 9.975% | Charged on the same base as GST (room price plus the tax on lodging), not stacked on top of the GST amount. |
| Combined effective rate on a $100 room | Roughly 19% in total tax | The tax on lodging plus GST and QST, with GST and QST calculated on top of the tax on lodging as well as the room price. |
| City of Quebec hotel surtax | None | Quebec City does not levy its own separate municipal hotel or lodging tax on top of the provincial rate. |
| Municipal certificate of authorization for a principal residence rental | $260 (2026 fee) | A prerequisite the City of Quebec requires before a host can even apply to the CITQ for a principal residence registration. |
The most Quebec City-specific detail in this table is administrative rather than financial: 15% of what the Office du tourisme de Québec collects here is passed on to the provincial Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec, a revenue split that does not apply the same way to every tourism region.
Collection and Remittance
Hotels and registered short-term rentals collect the 3.5% tax on lodging from guests and remit it to Revenu Québec on a quarterly return, due by the end of the month following the calendar quarter. Revenu Québec then returns the amount collected in the Québec tourism region, minus administration costs, to the Office du tourisme de Québec, which keeps the majority for local destination marketing and forwards 15% to the Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec. When a booking runs through a digital platform such as Airbnb or Vrbo, the platform collects the tax instead of the property operator whenever both are registered with Revenu Québec and the platform receives the full payment. A property that also operates a location in Lévis, just across the river, has to report that portion of its business separately, since Lévis falls under the Chaudière-Appalaches tourism region rather than Québec.
Exemptions From Quebec City's Hotel Tax
Quebec City follows the same provincial exemption rules as the rest of Quebec. A stay of 32 consecutive nights or more at the same establishment is exempt from the tax on lodging, with no separate certificate required for that exemption specifically. Also excluded are bookings of 6 hours or less, youth tourist accommodation establishments, and occasional rentals such as a room rented once a year during a festival. Quebec City has not created any additional exemption category of its own; its extra layer of rules, covered above, is about short-term rental permitting, not about who owes the tax.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With Tax Compliance
- Assuming Quebec City has always charged 3.5%. The rate here was 3% until the province's November 2016 standardization, and any historical pricing or contract language referencing the old rate is stale.
- Applying for a CITQ registration before getting the municipal certificate. Quebec City requires its own certificate of authorization first, and a CITQ application filed without it will not reflect what the city actually requires.
- Treating the 90-night cap as a suggestion. Collaborative tourist accommodation in a principal residence is capped at 90 nights per year in Quebec City, a hard limit rather than a guideline, unlike Montreal's fixed calendar-season approach.
- Lumping a Lévis property into Quebec City's tourism-region reporting. Lévis sits in the Chaudière-Appalaches tourism region, not Québec, so a multi-property operator on both sides of the river must report and remit separately for each.
- Charging GST and QST only on the room rate. As everywhere in Quebec, both sales taxes are owed on the total price including the 3.5% tax on lodging, not on the pre-tax room rate alone.
- Not watching for the city's planned zoning changes. Quebec City has flagged further restrictions on new commercial short-term rental establishments in residential-priority neighborhoods, with public consultations planned for late summer and fall 2026, so today's zoning approval is not guaranteed to hold.
Where A PMS Fits Into Tax Compliance
None of this is about software, but a Quebec City property still has real operational tracking to do: a tax on lodging that has to compound correctly with GST and QST, a quarterly filing tied to a specific tourism region, and for short-term rentals, a 90-night annual cap that has to be tracked across the calendar year rather than reset by season. A property management system like roommaster helps by configuring the 3.5% tax on lodging as its own tax code, running revenue reports by date range to support the quarterly Revenu Québec filing, and showing guests the full, all-in price on the booking engine before checkout, rather than reconciling the tax stack by hand every quarter.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Quebec City have its own hotel tax rate?
No. Quebec City charges the provincial Tax on Lodging at the standard 3.5% rate. There is no separate, higher, or differently structured hotel tax specific to the city.
2. What is Quebec City's hotel tax?
Quebec City's hotel tax is Quebec's Tax on Lodging, a 3.5% charge on the price of an overnight stay, applied because the city sits in the "Québec" tourism region.
3. What is Quebec City's lodging tax?
Quebec City's lodging tax and its hotel tax are the same 3.5% charge, officially the Tax on Lodging, collected by Revenu Québec and returned to the Office du tourisme de Québec to fund destination marketing.
4. Is the hotel tax in Quebec City the same as in Lévis, just across the river?
No. Lévis is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches tourism region, not the Québec region, so a hotel there remits its tax on lodging separately even though the two cities are directly across the St. Lawrence River from each other.
5. How much total tax will I pay on a Quebec City hotel room?
Expect the 3.5% tax on lodging plus 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, with GST and QST calculated on the room price plus the tax on lodging. On a $100 room, that comes to roughly $19 in combined tax.
6. How many nights a year can I rent my Quebec City home to tourists?
A principal residence registered for collaborative tourist accommodation can be rented for a maximum of 90 nights per calendar year, and a host must first obtain a municipal certificate of authorization before applying for the provincial CITQ registration.
7. Where does the money from Quebec City's hotel tax go?
Most of it funds the Office du tourisme de Québec's marketing of the city as a destination. The office also forwards 15% of what it collects to the Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec for provincial and international promotion.
