Short-term rentals using home-sharing or third-party brokers
Under Pennsylvania law, anyone who rents out their property to provide lodging for less than 30 days to the same person must collect and remit the Pennsylvania hotel occupancy tax to the Department of Revenue. In addition to hotels, the tax applies to rentals of rooms, apartments and houses arranged through online or third-party brokers.
The tax rate is the same as the sales tax, 6 percent. The department also collects an addition 1 percent local hotel tax in Allegheny and Philadelphia counties which is remitted to those counties. Some counties impose an additional tax collected by the county treasurer. Information about county level tax rates is available from the Department of Community and Economic Development.
Using a Third-Party Broker
Some home-sharing website or third party brokers voluntarily collect and remit the Pennsylvania hotel occupancy tax on behalf of hosts. Taxpayers should check with the company to determine who is responsible for collecting and remitting the hotel occupancy tax. If a taxpayer exclusively uses a third-party booking site and the third-party broker confirms the collection and the remittance of hotel occupancy tax, the homeowner should not register for a Sales, Use, and Hotel Occupancy Tax License.
Registering to Collect the Tax
If a taxpayer does not exclusively use a third-party booking site, or their third-party broker does not collcet and remit hotel occupancy tax, the taxpayer is required to register with the Department of Revenue for a Sales, Use, and Hotel Occupancy Tax License by completing the Pennsylvania Online Business Tax registration process at mypath.pa.gov. For assistance completing the form, call 717-787-1064.
Remitting the Tax using myPATH
After registering and obtaining a Sales, Use, and Hotel Occupancy Tax license and account number, taxpayers must file returns and remit the tax electronically using myPATH, the department’s easy-to-use online system.
Information about creating an account and using myPATH is available on the department's myPATH Information page.
Additional Tax Information
Hotel occupancy taxes are separate from income earned from renting short-term lodging. Income from short term lodging should be reported on the Pennsylvania Personal Income Tax Schedule C – Profit or Loss from Business or Profession.
Income from property rentals for 30 days or more which are not subject to the hotel occupancy tax should be reported using Schedules E, Rents and Royalty Income (Loss).
Tax forms for the current and previous tax years are available.