The City of Watertown requires all short-term rental establishments be licensed by the Health Department on an annual basis.  Short-term rental establishments are those who sell or furnish lodging to the public for periods less than 30 days, counting the first day of the rental and not counting the last day of the rental.  Any revenue collected for rentals less than 30 days is considered eligible revenue for room tax calculation purposes.

Homeowners of short-term rental establishments must report their monthly eligible revenues and pay the applicable taxes within 20 days following the end of the month they are reporting.  Monthly revenue statements must be submitted to the Finance Department for all registered short-term rental establishments, even if no revenue was earned in the month.

The current room tax rate is 8% of all eligible revenues.  If payment is received and recorded within 20 days  following the end of the month being reported, a 5% discount can be taken on the tax payable to the City.  

The following link will provide a fill-in spreadsheet that will calculate the applicable tax for you.  This Monthly Revenue Statement must be submitted to the Finance Department with  your room tax payment.  If no payment is due, there is an option to email the spreadsheet to the contact listed on the form.

If a marketplace (Airbnb, VRBO, etc) lists or advertises lodging on behalf of the homeowner and also processes the payment, directly or indirectly, from the purchaser of lodging, they are responsible for remitting room tax on the entire sales price charged to the purchaser of lodging.  Marketplace providers must file Form RT-200 with the City when remitting room tax.  Homeowner's are still required to submit the Monthly Revenue Statement to the Finance Department, but may do so via email as the payment is remitted by the marketplace provider.  When submitting the Monthly Revenue Statement, homeowners should only include the gross revenue for the rental.  Do not include any fees associated with the online booking.

Please contact Mark Stevens, Finance Director/Treasurer, with questions at 920-262-4007.