Massachusetts Room Occupancy Tax for Short-Term Rentals (2026)

The Layers of Tax, as of October 2026

The total a guest pays depends on where the home is. The Department of Revenue (DOR) lists these layers:

Local rates change by town meeting or city council vote, so check the current number before you set prices. DOR points to the Division of Local Services (DLS) Municipal Databank, which publishes a report of every town's room tax rate, effective date and community impact fee. Two examples from that report, read on 6 October 2026: Worcester has a 6% local excise in effect since October 2009 and no community impact fee listed; Amherst and Arlington each list a 6% local excise and a 3% community impact fee.

What Is Taxed

The excise applies to short-term rentals of 31 days or less. (Hotels, motels, lodging houses and bed and breakfast establishments are taxed on stays of 90 days or less.) If the total rent is less than $15 per day, no tax is due.

"Rent" is broader than the nightly rate. Since July 1, 2019, DOR counts everything the guest pays in exchange for the stay, including cleaning fees, linen fees, booking fees and optional charges such as insurance. DOR excludes bona fide refundable security deposits and a few other items.

The Community Impact Fee

This is the piece owners misunderstand most. A town that has adopted a local room excise may vote a community impact fee of up to 3%, but it applies only to:

• Professionally managed units: one of two or more short-term rental units in the same city or town with the same operator, and not inside a single-, two- or three-family home that includes the operator's primary residence. DOR says a unit can count as professionally managed whether or not an intermediary is involved.
• Owner-occupied two- and three-family homes, but only if the town took a second, separate vote to include them.

So one vacation home you own in a town is usually not hit by the fee, while a second unit in the same town, under the same operator, may be. Check the DLS report for your town and how your properties are held.

Who Collects and Pays

DOR calls the person running the rental the operator: an owner, lessee, or anyone else operating it, resident in Massachusetts or not. Since July 1, 2019, an intermediary that collects rent must also collect the tax and file returns. Intermediaries include hosting platforms, brokers and operator's agents such as property managers and real estate agents.

How that plays out:

• Bookings through Airbnb. Airbnb's help center says it charges guests the state excise, the local option excise, and where they apply the Cape Cod and Islands fund excise, the convention center fee and the community impact fee, and remits them for you. You do not file returns for those bookings.
• Bookings through other platforms or a manager. If the intermediary collects the rent, DOR says it is responsible for the tax, and the operator does not report or pay on rent the intermediary collected. Confirm in writing who is filing for each channel.
• Direct bookings. If you take a booking and collect the rent yourself, you collect the tax and file the return.

Intermediaries must send operators a notice within 30 days of filing that shows the rent collected for each stay and the taxes they remitted. Keep those notices.

Registering

Every operator registers on MassTaxConnect, adds the Room Occupancy Consolidated account, lists each property and receives a Certificate of Registration for each. The certificate is posted in the property, and the certificate number goes to each platform. Our Massachusetts short-term rental laws page walks through this step by step, including the rule that only one co-owner registers.

The 14-Day Exemption

If a property is rented for 14 days or less in a calendar year, you register but do not collect tax, as long as you claim the exemption by January 15 of that year. If you end up renting more than 14 days, you owe the tax for the first 14 days too. DOR notes that if you have not claimed the exemption by January 15, the platform will collect on your rentals from January 1.

Filing Returns and Paying

• Frequency. Room occupancy returns are due monthly, on or before the 30th day after the month the return covers.
• Only when tax is due. DOR says a return is only required for a month in which tax is due. If every booking that month came through a platform that collected and filed, you have nothing to report for those stays.
• One return, all layers. The state excise, local excise, convention center fee, Cape Cod fund excise and community impact fee are all reported and paid together on the same return.
• Several properties. MassTaxConnect accepts a single entry or a consolidated spreadsheet upload using DOR's template.
• Large filers. Taxpayers with more than $150,000 of cumulative liability in the prior year must make advance payments; few single-home owners reach that.

Records to Keep

DOR requires operators to keep records of charges and receipts for every stay and copies of the returns they file. A simple system that holds up:

1. A monthly export of every booking from each platform, with the tax line shown.
2. The intermediary notices of tax collected and remitted.
3. A log of any direct bookings with rent, fees and tax collected.
4. Copies of each return and payment confirmation.
5. Your Certificate of Registration for each property, and any 14-day exemption confirmation.

Income tax is a separate matter: room occupancy tax collected from guests is not your income, and your rental income is reported on your federal and state returns. Our tax basics for homeowners page covers the federal side.

When You Stop Renting or Sell

If the property will no longer be listed or is changing ownership, DOR's instructions are to "cease" the property in MassTaxConnect with a cease date. Do it promptly so the certificate does not stay attached to a home you no longer rent.

Where New England Host Co Fits

New England Host Co lists homes on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Tripadvisor and Furnished Finder, and serves Central Massachusetts around Worcester. Because the tax treatment differs by channel, it is worth agreeing at the start who files what. Questions about a specific home can go through our contact page, and the rest of the rules are collected in the owner hub.

FAQ

What Is the Total Room Tax on a Massachusetts Short-Term Rental?

It is 5.7% state plus whatever local layers apply. In Worcester, for example, the state 5.7%, the 6% local excise and the 2.75% convention center fee add up to 14.45%, based on DOR and DLS data read in October 2026 (more on our Worcester page). Check the DLS report for your town.

Does the Tax Apply to the Cleaning Fee?

Yes. DOR includes cleaning fees, linen fees, booking fees and other optional charges in taxable rent. Refundable security deposits are excluded.

If Airbnb Collects the Tax, Do I File Anything?

Not for those bookings. Airbnb's help center says you do not need to file returns for transactions completed on Airbnb. You still must register, and you file for any stays you booked and collected yourself.

Are 30-Night Stays Taxed?

For a short-term rental, the excise applies to stays of 31 days or less, so a 30-night stay is taxed. A stay longer than 31 days is not subject to the excise.

Does the Community Impact Fee Apply to My One Vacation Home?

Usually not. It applies in adopting towns to professionally managed units (two or more units in the same town with the same operator) and, if the town voted separately, to owner-occupied two- and three-family homes.

This page is general information as of October 2026, not legal or tax advice; check with DOR, your town or a tax professional for your situation.