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Hotel And Lodging Tax In South Dakota 2026: TOT Rates By City
Nearly every South Dakota city stacks the same four taxes on a hotel room for a combined 8.7% rate, except Sioux Falls, which adds a fifth city-only lodging tax to reach 9.7% in 2026.
August 28, 2026
9
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TL;DR
- Nearly every South Dakota city stacks the same four taxes on a hotel room: the 4.2% state sales tax, a 1-2% municipal sales tax, a 1% Municipal Gross Receipts Tax (MGRT), and a 1.5% statewide tourism tax, landing at 8.7% in most cities that tax lodging at all.
- "Hotel tax," "lodging tax," "occupancy tax," "bed tax," "room tax," and "TOT" all describe this same combined South Dakota charge.
- Sioux Falls is the only city with a fifth, city-specific 1% lodging tax on top of the standard formula, bringing its total to 9.7%, the highest confirmed rate in the state.
- The long-stay exemption kicks in at 28 consecutive days, not 30, and a room rented 10 days or less in a calendar year is "casual or occasional" and exempt from tax entirely.
- Five tribal nations (Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Oglala/Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and Standing Rock) operate their own "Special Jurisdiction" tax agreements with the state, reported under distinct tribal tax codes.
- Deadwood's well-known 9% gaming tax applies only to casino proceeds, not hotel rooms; a Deadwood hotel guest pays the standard 8.7%.
- South Dakota's government exemption only extends to other states that offer SD a matching exemption, and even then, Iowa and Minnesota still tax lodging for SD government travelers.
- Federal government Travel Card exemption depends on the card's sixth digit: 0, 6, 7, 8, or 9 is exempt, while 1, 2, 3, or 4 is taxable.
How South Dakota's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
South Dakota taxes hotel, motel, and campground stays of less than 28 consecutive days by stacking four separate levies: the 4.2% state sales tax, a city's own municipal sales tax, a 1% Municipal Gross Receipts Tax, and a 1.5% statewide tourism tax, under South Dakota Codified Law chapters 10-45, 10-52, and 10-52A.
The Municipal Gross Receipts Tax, or MGRT, is a separate 1% charge a city can layer specifically onto lodging, restaurant meals, alcohol, and amusement admissions, on top of its regular municipal sales tax. The state's own tourism tax adds another 1.5% on top of that, funding statewide tourism promotion rather than any single city's budget. Almost every South Dakota city that taxes lodging at all applies both, which is why the combined total lands at almost exactly the same 8.7% rate across most of the state, whether the property is in Rapid City, Pierre, or a small town near the Black Hills.
The tax applies to hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, boarding houses, cabins, condominiums, cottages, dude ranches, guest ranches, hostels, lodges, resorts, tourist homes, timeshare rentals, vacation rental homes, and campgrounds, camping cabins, RV parks, and trailer parks. A rental of ten days or less in a calendar year is treated as casual or occasional and isn't subject to sales tax at all, a lower bar than the 28-day exemption that applies to an ongoing stay.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
Because the MGRT and tourism tax rates are set by state law rather than negotiated city by city, the real variable driving a South Dakota hotel bill is usually just the municipal sales tax and whether a city has adopted the MGRT at all. Sioux Falls is the notable exception, adding a fifth tax specific to lodging that no other city in the state currently charges.
| City / county | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sioux Falls | 9.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax + 1% Sioux Falls-only lodging tax (city code 800-1) |
| Rapid City | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
| Deadwood | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax; separate roughly 9% gaming tax applies only to casino proceeds, not room rates |
| Custer | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
| Sturgis | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
| Spearfish | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
| Pierre | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
| Watertown | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
| Aberdeen | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
| Hot Springs | 8.7% | 4.2% state + 2% municipal sales tax + 1% MGRT + 1.5% tourism tax |
The uniformity is a feature of state law, not coincidence. SDCL 10-52 and 10-52A set the framework municipalities use to adopt these taxes, and most cities that bother imposing an MGRT at all set it at the standard 1% rather than a custom rate. Sioux Falls' extra 1% lodging tax, reported separately under its own city-specific tax code, is layered on top of, not instead of, the standard municipal sales tax and MGRT the city already charges.
Deadwood is a useful case for a different kind of confusion: the city's well-known gaming tax, roughly 9%, applies only to the adjusted gross proceeds of casino gaming, a completely separate tax under different statutory authority, not to hotel room charges. A Deadwood hotel guest who isn't also gambling pays the same 8.7% most other South Dakota cities charge.
Collection and Remittance
Guests pay the tax at checkout, and the property is legally responsible for collecting and remitting it. All four layers, the state sales tax, municipal sales tax, MGRT, and tourism tax, are reported on a single combined return filed with the South Dakota Department of Revenue; there's no separate filing with the city itself. Properties in one of the state's five tribal Special Jurisdictions, including land within the Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, and Standing Rock reservations, report tax under a distinct jurisdiction-specific code rather than a city code, with the state distributing the tribal share according to its tax collection agreement with that nation. Marketplace facilitators that meet South Dakota's economic nexus threshold are required to collect and remit the state sales tax, municipal tax, MGRT, and tourism tax on a host's behalf; a property should confirm which of these four components a given platform is actually remitting rather than assuming full coverage.
Exemptions From South Dakota's Hotel Tax
South Dakota's long-stay exemption applies once the same guest, whether an individual, firm, or company, occupies a room or campsite for 28 or more consecutive days; sales tax, use tax, MGRT, and tourism tax are all waived for that stay. A separate, lower threshold covers occasional rentals: a lodging establishment that rents a room for ten days or less in a calendar year owes no sales tax on that rental at all, though any property that holds a sales tax license is presumed not to be operating on a casual or occasional basis. Government exemptions are narrower than they look. South Dakota exempts its own state and local government agencies, federally recognized tribes, and certain nonprofit and relief organizations outright, and extends the exemption to other states' governments only when that state offers South Dakota a comparable exemption in return. Even among the states that qualify for reciprocity, Iowa and Minnesota still tax lodging specifically, so a government traveler from either state doesn't get a free pass on the room charge the way they would on most other purchases. Federal employees traveling on a GSA SmartPay Travel Card get an exemption that depends on a single digit: cards with a sixth digit of 0, 6, 7, 8, or 9 are exempt, while a sixth digit of 1, 2, 3, or 4 means the charge is taxable, regardless of the traveler's official purpose.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Using 30 days instead of South Dakota's actual 28-day threshold. A property that applies the more common 30-day rule from other states will keep charging tax on days 28 and 29 of a qualifying long-term stay that should already be exempt.
- Confusing Deadwood's gaming tax with its lodging tax. The city's roughly 9% gaming tax applies only to casino proceeds; a Deadwood hotel room is taxed at the same combined rate as most other South Dakota cities, not at the gaming rate.
- Assuming every city's total rate matches the 8.7% norm. Sioux Falls adds its own additional 1% lodging tax on top of the standard formula, and a property that doesn't configure that fifth line separately will under-collect on every Sioux Falls booking.
- Granting a government exemption to any traveler with a state ID. South Dakota's reciprocal exemption for out-of-state governments doesn't cover lodging for every qualifying state; Iowa and Minnesota travelers still owe the tax on their room even though other purchases may be exempt.
- Waiving tax for a federal Travel Card without checking the card itself. Exemption depends on the sixth digit of the card number, not simply on whether the card says "for official government use only."
- Treating a tribal Special Jurisdiction property like a regular city location. A hotel or cabin within Pine Ridge, Rosebud, or one of the other Special Jurisdictions reports tax under its own jurisdiction-specific code rather than the standard city code, and doesn't add a municipal sales tax on top of the state and tourism tax.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of this is really about software so much as it is about not miscounting to 28 or missing which of four possible tax lines applies in a specific city. A property management system that lets a hotel configure separate tax codes for the state sales tax, municipal sales tax, MGRT, and tourism tax, plus a fifth code for a city like Sioux Falls that layers on an extra lodging tax, keeps front desk staff from having to manually recalculate the stack on every booking. Revenue reports that break collections down by tax code and date range make it easier to reconcile a single combined state return, and a booking engine that counts consecutive nights correctly against South Dakota's 28-day threshold, rather than the more common 30-day rule, helps avoid both over-collecting from long-term guests and under-collecting on stays that fall just short of the exemption.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does South Dakota have a statewide hotel tax rate?
South Dakota doesn't have one single statewide hotel tax; instead, hotel rooms are taxed by stacking the 4.2% state sales tax with a 1.5% statewide tourism tax, plus whatever municipal sales tax and Municipal Gross Receipts Tax the specific city has adopted. In most South Dakota cities that tax lodging, this combination lands at 8.7%.
2. What is South Dakota's hotel tax?
South Dakota's hotel tax is the combination of the state's 4.2% sales tax, a city's municipal sales tax, a 1% Municipal Gross Receipts Tax on lodging, and a 1.5% statewide tourism tax, all charged on the gross receipts from a room rented for less than 28 consecutive days.
3. What is South Dakota's lodging tax?
South 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 and municipal taxes charged on a short-term hotel, motel, or campground stay.
4. Which South Dakota city has the highest hotel tax rate?
Sioux Falls currently has the highest confirmed total at 9.7%, because it charges an additional 1% city-specific lodging tax on top of the standard 8.7% combination of state sales tax, municipal sales tax, MGRT, and tourism tax that most other South Dakota cities apply.
5. How long can a guest stay before South Dakota's hotel tax no longer applies?
South Dakota exempts a stay once the same guest occupies a room or campsite for 28 or more consecutive days, a shorter threshold than the 30-day rule used in many other states. A separate rule also exempts any lodging rental of ten days or less in a calendar year as casual or occasional.
6. Does Deadwood's gaming tax apply to hotel rooms?
No. Deadwood's roughly 9% gaming tax applies only to the adjusted gross proceeds of casino gaming under its own statutory authority. A hotel room in Deadwood is taxed at the same combined rate, 8.7%, that applies in most other South Dakota cities.
7. Do short-term rental platforms collect South Dakota's hotel tax automatically?
Marketplace facilitators that meet South Dakota's sales tax registration threshold are required to collect and remit the state sales tax, municipal sales tax, MGRT, and tourism tax on a host's behalf. A host should still confirm with the platform which of these components are actually being collected, since coverage isn't always complete.
