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Josh Givens

Administrator

Hocking County Seal

Lodging Tax

(740) 380-4100

Lodging Tax

The County Lodging Tax Administrator acts as an agent for Hocking County with respect to the collection and disposition of the Hocking County excise tax on lodging of transient guests. The department that handles these varied duties and responsibilities is the Lodging Occupancy Tax Office.
 
The powers and duties of this department are defined by the Hocking County Code of Regulations. A copy of this Code of Regulations is attached to this Home Page. The Lodging Occupancy Tax Office is located at the Hocking County Annex. All general questions or concerns can easily be directed and/or handled by calling at (740) 380-4100.

The main purpose of this department is to collect the County bed tax.

 

Important Lodging Tax Information – Please Read!


Lodging Tax is a six percent tax, which is then split – three percent to the county and three percent to the township where your lodging is located. You are charging lodging tax to the renters - operators are simply responsible for collecting and remitting to the county and township.

STEP ONE is registration. If you are an operator of a new short-term-rental – please fill out the registration form and email it to [email protected]. The registration form can be found here.

The remitting process is monthly, and we are always working on the previous month. You would have until to the end of January to get in December, the end of February for January, and so on. The Lodging Tax Administrator does not collect for your township! The townships are their own entity and their portion must be sent to them separately. The townships contact information can be found here.

The preferred lodging tax form that you may use can be found here. This form does the calculations for you. Type your gross into line one – a zero into line two, hit the tab key and the calculations are made. If a mistake is made – please clear the form with the RED “Reset Form” button in the top left-hand corner. Failure to use the reset button can cause errors in your calculations.

You may accompany the form with a check using the postal service, email me your form and have a check sent from your bank, or use the online payment portal found at the link below. Remember, the online portal is still only paying the county portion. The online payment portal can be found here.

 

Common Questions

  1. Lodging Tax is now applied to certain fees. This includes cleaning, pet and additional bed fees. However, if your cleaning fee is billed by and paid to a third party – the cleaning fee is not taxable. If you are collecting the cleaning fee as revenue, then the cleaning fee is taxable.
     
  2. Schools and Churches are NOT exempt from lodging tax. Ohio, nor any Ohio subdivision employees are also not exempt. The only exemption is for Federal or non-Ohio, state employees.
     
  3. If rents are paid in any type of installment – you may remit lodging tax for that once the full amount is paid or the renter has stayed – to avoid confusion with cancelations.
     
  4. Lodging Tax is due by the last day of the following month – regardless of weekend or holiday. This may be by postmark in the mail, paid online or dropped off to my office. I also have a drop box outside the front door of the building. The late penalty is 10 percent of your tax due. Tax received beyond 30 days – the late fee can be raised to 25 percent.
     
  5. In months of no business, (winter months, maintenance, etc.) a return is still required – but can simply be filled out with zeros. That can be sent in the mail or emailed to [email protected].
     
  6. If you are an Air BnB operator – the registration number they may ask for is the number at the top of your registration certificate. Registration certificates are only given once the registration form is completed.
     
  7. Please provide your registration number on all online listings.
     
  8. Please be aware neither Air BnB, VRBO nor any other booking agency is remitting Lodging Taxes on your behalf.
     
  9. You must also remit to your township! Their contact information can be found here.
     
  10. Please use your Company name that is on your registration certificate, on all monthly forms/correspondence.

 

For the Registration Form click link below.
(Form is Fillable and we Recommend Typed Forms)