Short Term Rental Tax Collection
Over the past several years in the City of Oxford, there has been a large amount of growth in properties used as short term rentals via hosting platform websites, such as Airbnb and VRBO. These rental units are heavily used by visitors in our community. The City of Oxford has decided to extend the lodging tax and Rental Permit requirements to these properties after several years of research. The hotel business community has long advocated that these short term rental properties be treated equally and be subject to the lodging tax as short term rental providers. The hotel industry has paid this tax since May 1987. The City’s research also found that there are safety concerns in short-term rentals in other communities that did not require rental inspections.
For these reasons, short term rental properties will be treated as additional lodging facilities and will require a Rental Permit and to remit the lodging tax.
The City of Oxford began tax remittance on short term rentals on September 1, 2022.
Ordinance 3626 which repealed the previous “Hotel and Convention Tax,” and adopted the “Hotel, Short-term Rental and Convention Tax,” went into effect August 3, 2021. The City waived all fees from August 3, 2021 until August 31, 2022 while the implementation of the new program was developed.
The tax collected from these properties is divided between the housing trust fund and Enjoy Oxford. The housing trust fund dedicates funds toward affordable housing efforts and Enjoy Oxford funds city promotions to attract new visitors and support them while they are here.
Property owners/agents can submit Rental Permits and Short-Term Rental Registrations through the City's GovWell platform. Once a property has been issued a Rental Permit and also been properly registered as a Short-Term Rental, lodging tax can be remitted directly through GovWell on a quarterly basis. Owners/agents are required to report STR revenue through GovWell every quarter, even if no STR revenue was received. If revenue was collected, a 6% tax will be due. Any reporting that is received more than 15 days after the due date will be assessed a 10% penalty fee on top of the 6% tax due.
Quick links:
For Questions:
- For help registering your Short Term Rental and paying lodging tax, call Community Development: (513)-524-5209
- For any substantive questions on the Short Term Rental tax itself, call Stephanie Tussey: (513)-524-5226
- For the history of short term regulations in Oxford, as well as current rental requirements, see Transient Guest Lodging.