State Hotel-Motel - FAQ

The state hotel motel fee is a $5.00 per night fee on each calendar night an accommodation is rented or leased by an innkeeper or marketplace innkeeper until the rental becomes an extended stay rental (as referenced below).

The accommodation must be furnished to the public for value and provide physical shelter. Some examples include: hotels, motels, inns, cabins, and other short-term rentals managed through online marketplaces.

•  Any person that furnishes for value to the public any accommodation in a county or municipality and that is licensed by, or required to pay business or occupation taxes to, such municipality or county for operating a hotel, motel, inn, lodge, tourist camp, tourist cabin, campground, or any other place in which accommodations are regularly furnished for value; or
•  A marketplace innkeeper

A person, except for certain franchisors, who contracts with a Marketplace Seller, in exchange for any form of consideration, to make available or facilitate on behalf of the Marketplace Seller the rental or lease of any Accommodation by (directly or through any agreement or arrangement with another person): collecting, charging, processing, or otherwise similarly facilitating payment of such rental or lease on behalf of the Marketplace Seller; and providing a service that makes available or facilitates such rental or lease in any manner.

Additionally, Marketplace innkeepers are those who facilitate retail sales (including rentals and leases of Accommodations) that are subject to Georgia sales and use tax, if the total value such facilitated sales, combined with the facilitator's own retail sales that are subject to Georgia sales and use tax, equals or exceeds $100,000.00 in aggregate in the previous or current calendar year.

This typically refers to an online platform that facilitates the booking of accommodations by connecting individual property owners with travelers. 

No. The marketplace innkeeper must collect and remit the state hotel motel fee on each night of the guest’s stay.

An extended stay rental is the rental of a hotel room for 31 or more consecutive days to the same customer.

No. On the 31st day of uninterrupted continuous occupancy, the fee is no longer collected. If a customer switches rooms within the same hotel, the accommodation is uninterrupted. 

Yes. If the customer checks out then checks back into the same facility, the continuous occupancy has been broken and the day-count to establish an extended stay begins anew.

•  The federal government is exempt if the customer pays for the room with a check drawn on a federal government account, by a credit card centrally billed to the federal government, or by a federal government purchase order.
• Foreign diplomats, their members, and dependents and Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices (TECOs), their employees and dependents are exempt from the fee to the same extent they are exempt from sales and use tax.
•  Student housing is exempt if the facility does not provide housekeeping, linen or other customary hotel services.
• Special Care facilities (private or public) that are registered with or licensed by a Georgia state governmental agency where care is provided by nurses, orderlies, or aides.

No. Complimentary hotel rooms for which no rent or other consideration is paid are not subject to the fee.

Yes. Each night of the 4-night stay is subject to the fee. 

Yes. Each reward night is subject to the fee.

No, though there are some shared exemptions between the hotel motel fee and sales tax.

The fee still applies if there is an agreement between the hotel and guest that the reserved rooms will not be released or offered to other guests.

Yes. If the innkeeper timely files the return and remits the fee, then the innkeeper may deduct 3 percent of the first $3,000.00 of the combined total amount reported due on the return for each location and one-half of 1 percent of that portion exceeding $3,000.00 of the combined total amount reported due on the return for each location.

For failure to file a return or failure to pay the amount of the fee due in full, a penalty will be added of $5.00 or 5%, whichever is greater, if the failure is for 30 days or less. An additional penalty of 5% or $5.00, whichever is greater, will be added for each additional 30 days or fraction of 30 days during which the failure continues. The penalty for any single violation must not exceed 25% or $25.00 in the aggregate, whichever is greater.

The state hotel-motel fee bears interest at the rate and in the manner set forth in O.C.G.A. § 48-2-40.

The Innkeeper (or Marketplace Innkeeper) is legally responsible for collecting the fee from the customer and remitting it to the state. If an Innkeeper neglects, fails or refuses to collect, they are personally liable for the fee.

Innkeepers must report and remit the fee no later than the 20th day of the month following the month of collection. Innkeepers must file a return each month even when no hotel rooms were provided. The fee must be reported and remitted monthly even if the innkeeper reports and remits sales and use tax on a quarterly or annual basis.

Sellers must report and remit the fee electronically on the State Hotel-Motel Fee Return. The fee must be reported electronically regardless of whether the seller files paper sales tax returns. Only one return and one state hotel-motel fee number are required even if the seller has multiple locations.

In order to file a return, a seller must first register on the Georgia Tax Center website for a sales tax number (if it has not already done so) and a state hotel-motel fee number.