Bexar County Venue Tax: Rates, Exemptions, and Filing

The Bexar County venue tax is a voter-approved charge that adds 1.75% to hotel room stays and 5% to short-term motor vehicle rentals in the county. Revenue funds specific public venues, principally the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum complex. In November 2025, voters authorized raising the hotel portion to as much as 2%, the maximum Texas law allows for a county venue hotel tax.¹² The venue tax sits on top of state and city taxes and is collected separately from them.

What Gets Taxed

Two kinds of transactions are covered: short-term sleeping accommodations and short-term motor vehicle rentals, both within the county.³

Texas defines a “hotel” broadly. Traditional hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and short-term rentals booked through platforms like Airbnb and VRBO all qualify.⁴ If a guest stays fewer than 30 consecutive days, the stay is taxable. Thirty days or longer is treated as permanent residency and falls outside the tax.

For car rentals, the 5% venue tax applies to the gross rental cost of a short-term rental in the county. The Texas Comptroller administers this portion rather than the county itself.⁵

Current Rates and Where the Venue Tax Fits

The hotel venue tax has been 1.75%. Proposition A, approved in November 2025, authorized an increase up to 2%.¹ Because the implementation timeline may have shifted since the election, check the current effective rate with the City of San Antonio Finance Department before applying it.

In a San Antonio hotel room, the venue tax is one layer among several. Before the Proposition A increase, the combined hotel tax rate was 16.75%:⁶

State of Texas: 6%
City of San Antonio: 9% (7% general occupancy plus 2% for the Convention Center)
Bexar County venue tax: 1.75% (now authorized up to 2%)

Once the Proposition A increase is fully in effect, the combined rate reaches 17%. A separate Proposition B passed at the same election relates to a new arena project and could affect the total depending on how it is implemented. Operators setting room pricing should verify the current combined rate rather than relying on a figure from last season.

The 5% venue tax on car rentals is a separate charge from the state’s general motor vehicle rental tax. Rental companies in Bexar County owe both and remit them independently.

Who Is Exempt

The same exemptions that apply to the state hotel occupancy tax also apply to the Bexar County venue tax.⁷ The main categories:

Federal government employees, including military personnel, traveling on official business with a valid government ID.
Foreign diplomats holding a hotel tax exemption card from the U.S. Department of State.
Certain Texas state officials with a special hotel tax exemption ID: judges, agency heads, state legislators, and members of state boards or commissions. Rank-and-file state employees are not exempt but can request a refund.
Guests who stay 30 or more consecutive days without interrupting payment.⁸
Qualified religious, charitable, and educational organizations with a Comptroller-issued exemption letter, when traveling on behalf of the organization.⁹

Government contractors and city or county employees are not exempt, even on official business.⁷

The 30-Day Rule

The permanent-resident exemption trips up both guests and operators. A guest who gives the hotel written notice of an intent to stay 30 or more consecutive days becomes exempt starting on the date of that written notice, as long as the guest actually stays the full 30 days. Without that written notice, the guest pays tax for the first 30 days and becomes exempt only on day 31. Any break in payment during the stay voids the exemption, and the hotel becomes liable for the unpaid tax.⁸

How Operators File and Pay

The two sides of the venue tax go to different places. That is the single most common point of confusion.

Hotels and Short-Term Rentals

The City of San Antonio collects the Bexar County hotel venue tax on the county’s behalf.¹⁰ Operators file a single monthly report through the City’s Avenu online portal covering both the city hotel tax and the county venue tax. The combined report form comes from the City of San Antonio Finance Department.¹¹

Even when Airbnb or VRBO remits part of the hotel tax directly to the city, the operator still has to file the monthly Avenu report for both the city and county portions.¹⁰ The state’s 6% hotel tax is separate and goes directly to the Texas Comptroller.¹²

Motor Vehicle Rental Companies

The motor vehicle venue tax goes to the Texas Comptroller, not to Bexar County. The Comptroller provides Form 14-121 for Bexar County’s short-term motor vehicle rental venue tax. Returns are due by the 20th day of the month after the reporting period, and a return must be filed for every period, even if no tax is due.¹³

Companies that file and pay on time can keep 0.5% of the tax collected as a timely-filing discount. Those that prepay their tax liability can keep an additional 1.25% and may qualify to file quarterly instead of monthly.¹⁴

Penalties for Late Filing

Late motor vehicle venue tax filings carry a steep penalty schedule:¹³

1 to 30 days late: 10% penalty on the tax due, with a $5 minimum.
More than 30 days late: 20% penalty on the tax due.
Interest: if any tax or penalty is still unpaid 61 days after the due date, interest accrues at 10% per year on the combined tax and penalty balance.

On $1,000 of tax filed 45 days late, that works out to a $200 penalty plus interest starting on day 61. For a company with a sizable fleet, the numbers compound fast. A calendar reminder a few days ahead of the 20th is cheap insurance.

Record Keeping

The City of San Antonio reserves the right to audit hotel tax records at any time and holds operators responsible for maintaining accurate records to support their filings.⁶ Texas generally requires businesses to keep hotel tax records for four years. In practice that means retaining guest folios, exemption certificates, booking platform statements, and monthly tax reports in an organized, retrievable form. Rental companies should apply the same four-year retention to rental agreements, Comptroller returns, and payment confirmations.

1
Ballotpedia. Bexar County, Texas, Proposition A, Increase Hotel Occupancy Tax to Fund Coliseum Complex Venue Project Measure
2
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The Hotel Occupancy Tax
3
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 334.102 – Tax Authorized
4
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 156.001 – Definitions
5
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Motor Vehicle – Local Sports and Community Venue District Tax for Short-term Rentals
6
City of San Antonio. Hotel Occupancy Tax
7
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemptions
8
Texas Film Commission. Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemptions
9
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Tax Exemptions for Qualified Organizations
10
City of San Antonio. Hotel Occupancy Tax – Short Term Rentals
11
City of San Antonio. Hotel Occupancy Tax Report
12
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Hotel Occupancy Tax
13
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Bexar County Sports and Community Venue Project Tax Report for Short-Term Motor Vehicle Rentals
14
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Motor Vehicle Rental Tax Guide