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 Washington DC 2026: TOT Rate And Rules
Washington DC skips the usual state and county layers entirely, since the District is both at once, and instead stacks four DC Code sections into a 15.95% rate that includes a temporary surcharge scheduled to sunset in September 2027.
August 28, 2026
8
min. read
Summarize with AI
TL;DR
- Washington DC hotel stays carry a combined tax rate of 15.95%, built from four separate DC Code sections rather than the usual state, county, and city layers other cities have.
- Hotel tax, lodging tax, occupancy tax, and bed tax all describe the same charge, collected here under DC Code Title 47.
- The 15.95% rate breaks down into a 10.20% base hotel tax, a 4.45% use tax, a 0.3% convention and tourism tax, and a temporary 1.0% surcharge scheduled to sunset September 30, 2027.
- DC's long-stay exemption doesn't begin until day 91 of a continuous stay, three times longer than the 30-day threshold common in most other cities.
- DC's general retail sales tax rises from 6% to 7% on October 1, 2026, but that change does not touch the hotel tax rate, which lives under its own dedicated DC Code section.
- The DC Attorney General sued Marriott in 2019, and later other major hotel brands, under the District's Consumer Protection Procedures Act over allegedly hidden resort fees, litigation still ongoing as of 2026.
- Filing frequency depends on the dollar amount of tax owed rather than room count: monthly above $1,200 per period, quarterly between $201 and $1,200, and annually at $200 or below.
- Short-term rentals fall under the separate Short-Term Rental Regulation Act of 2018, which caps host-absent vacation rentals at 90 nights a year, a different rule from the 90-day tax exemption despite sharing the same number.
How Washington DC's Hotel and Lodging Tax Works
Washington DC's hotel tax has no state or county layer to stack, since the District functions as both city and state government at once. Instead, a single combined rate of 15.95% is built from four separate DC Code sections, all administered directly by the DC Office of Tax and Revenue.
The base rate comes from DC Code § 47-2002, which sets a 10.20% tax on gross receipts from any room, lodging, or accommodation furnished to a transient, a rate carved out specifically for hotels rather than tied to the District's general retail sales tax. A separate use tax under § 47-2202.01 adds 4.45%, described in the code as "separate from, and in addition to" the general compensating-use tax. Section 47-2202.03 layers on two more pieces: a permanent 0.3% dedicated to convention and tourism marketing, and a temporary 1.0% surcharge that took effect April 1, 2023 and is scheduled to sunset September 30, 2027.
Coverage extends to hotels, inns, tourist camps, tourist cabins, and any other place regularly furnishing rooms to transients, defined under DC Code § 47-2001 as anyone occupying a room for 90 days or less in one continuous stay. Short-term rentals fall under a separate regulatory track, the Short-Term Rental Regulation Act of 2018, which layers licensing rules on top of the tax itself.
Tax Rates and Extra Fees
DC's 15.95% combined rate is the sum of four distinct charges rather than a base rate plus a district assessment.
| Tax component | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DC Sales Tax on Transient Accommodations | 10.20% | Base hotel-specific rate under DC Code § 47-2002, separate from the District's general retail sales tax |
| DC Use Tax on Transient Lodgings | 4.45% | Imposed under § 47-2202.01, separate from and in addition to the general compensating-use tax |
| Convention and Tourism Promotion Tax | 0.3% | Permanent charge under § 47-2202.03(a)(1); funds the Washington Convention and Sports Authority for transfer to Destination DC |
| Temporary Transient Lodging Surcharge | 1.0% | Under § 47-2202.03(a)(2); effective April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2027; revenue shifted from Destination DC to local funds starting October 1, 2025 |
The 1.0% surcharge is worth watching specifically because it's temporary. Before April 1, 2023, DC's combined rate was 14.95%; the surcharge pushed it to 15.95%, and its scheduled September 30, 2027 sunset means the combined rate could drop back down unless the DC Council extends it before then, something a property should track rather than assume will stay fixed.
A separate rate change is easy to confuse with the hotel tax but doesn't touch it: DC's general retail sales tax rises from 6% to 7% on October 1, 2026. That increase applies to ordinary retail sales and services, not to transient accommodations, because hotels are taxed under their own dedicated code section rather than the general sales tax rate.
Collection and Remittance
Guests pay the combined 15.95% as part of the total room charge, but the hotel operator, or the room remarketer when a room is sold through an intermediary, is responsible for remitting it to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue. For room remarketers, the tax is calculated on the net charges and additional charges the remarketer actually retains, not the full retail price shown to the guest.
Filing frequency in DC is based on tax liability rather than room count: operators owing $1,201 or more per period file monthly, those owing between $201 and $1,200 file quarterly, and those at $200 or less may file annually, with returns due by the 20th of the month following the period. Marketplace facilitators, the category that covers most short-term rental booking platforms, must file monthly regardless of how much tax they collect.
Washington DC's Fee Transparency Rules
DC has pursued hotel fee transparency through its Consumer Protection Procedures Act rather than a dedicated pricing statute. In 2019, the DC Attorney General sued Marriott, alleging that its resort fees amounted to unlawful "drip pricing" that hid the true room price from consumers, and later filed similar actions against other major hotel brands. That litigation, still ongoing as of 2026 and seeking both restitution for District consumers and a court order requiring upfront pricing, predates the federal government's separate rule requiring hotels and booking sites nationwide to display the full price, including mandatory fees, in every advertisement.
Exemptions From Washington DC's Hotel Tax
DC's long-stay exemption is considerably longer than the 30-day threshold common elsewhere: a guest is only classified as a permanent resident, and exempt from the transient accommodations tax, once a continuous stay reaches 91 days. Stays of 90 days or fewer remain fully taxable under the DC Code's definition of "transient," regardless of intent to stay longer.
This 90-day figure shouldn't be confused with the separate 90-night annual cap that applies to host-absent vacation rentals under the Short-Term Rental Regulation Act. One is a tax exemption threshold measured in consecutive days of a single stay; the other is a licensing limit measured in cumulative nights rented per calendar year. They share a number but govern entirely different things.
Common Mistakes Hotels Make With TOT Compliance
- Assuming the October 2026 sales tax increase applies to hotel rooms. The general rate moving from 6% to 7% affects ordinary retail and services, not transient accommodations, which are taxed under their own dedicated DC Code section.
- Treating the 1.0% temporary surcharge as permanent. It's scheduled to sunset September 30, 2027, and a property that doesn't track the DC Council's decision on renewal risks collecting an outdated rate the day after the sunset date.
- Applying a 30-day exemption instead of DC's actual 90-day threshold. A stay of 45 or 60 days is still fully taxable in the District; the exemption only starts on day 91 of a continuous stay.
- Confusing the 90-day tax exemption with the 90-night vacation rental cap. These are two separate rules under two separate laws that happen to use the same number, and applying one's logic to the other creates real compliance confusion for short-term rental operators.
- Filing on the wrong cadence after liability changes. DC ties filing frequency to dollar amount of tax owed, not room count, so a property whose liability crosses the $1,200 or $200 thresholds needs to change its filing schedule accordingly, not continue on autopilot.
- Bundling a resort fee into the advertised rate without disclosing it. DC's Attorney General has actively pursued major hotel brands under the Consumer Protection Procedures Act specifically over resort fee disclosure, well before the federal government's pricing rule existed.
Where A PMS Fits Into TOT Compliance
None of this is about software tracking a sunset date or a dollar-based filing threshold on its own, since those depend on decisions the DC Council and the Office of Tax and Revenue make independently of any property's operations. What a PMS can do is let a property configure DC's four-part rate as its own set of line items, so a change to the temporary surcharge doesn't require manually re-deriving the whole 15.95% figure, and track filing frequency against actual tax liability rather than a fixed room count. Revenue reports by date range help confirm a guest has genuinely crossed the 90-day exemption threshold before treating a stay as tax-exempt, and a booking engine that shows the full tax-inclusive price upfront keeps a property ahead of the kind of resort fee scrutiny DC's Attorney General has specifically targeted.
See how roommaster simplifies multi-property tax reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Washington DC have its own hotel tax rate?
Yes. Washington DC imposes a combined hotel tax of 15.95% built from four separate DC Code sections, since the District has no state or county government layered above it the way other cities do.
2. What is Washington DC's hotel tax?
Washington DC's hotel tax is a combined 15.95% rate on transient accommodations, made up of a 10.20% base tax under DC Code § 47-2002, a 4.45% use tax under § 47-2202.01, a 0.3% convention and tourism tax, and a temporary 1.0% surcharge set to sunset September 30, 2027.
3. What is Washington DC's lodging tax?
Washington DC's lodging tax is the same charge as its hotel tax: hotel tax, lodging tax, occupancy tax, and bed tax all describe the combined transient accommodations taxes collected under DC Code Title 47.
4. How long does a guest need to stay in Washington DC to be exempt from hotel tax?
A guest must occupy the same room for 91 or more consecutive days before qualifying as a permanent resident exempt from the tax. Stays of 90 days or fewer are fully taxable under the DC Code's definition of a transient.
5. Does Washington DC require hotels to disclose fees upfront?
DC doesn't have a dedicated hotel pricing statute, but its Attorney General has actively sued major hotel brands, starting with Marriott in 2019, under the District's Consumer Protection Procedures Act over allegedly hidden resort fees, litigation that is still ongoing as of 2026 alongside the federal government's separate all-in pricing rule.
6. Who is responsible for filing and remitting Washington DC's hotel tax?
The hotel operator, or the room remarketer when a room is sold through an intermediary, must remit the tax to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue. Filing frequency depends on the amount of tax owed: monthly above $1,200 per period, quarterly between $201 and $1,200, and annually at $200 or below, though marketplace facilitators must always file monthly.
7. Will DC's October 2026 sales tax increase raise the hotel tax rate?
No. The increase from 6% to 7% applies to DC's general retail sales tax on ordinary goods and services. Hotel rooms are taxed under a separate, dedicated DC Code section, so the general rate change does not affect the 15.95% combined hotel tax.
