Fort Worth Hotel Occupancy Tax: Rate, Exemptions, and Filing

The Fort Worth hotel occupancy tax totals 17% of the nightly room price on any sleeping accommodation renting for $2 or more per day. That 17% is made up of three separate taxes stacked on the same bill: a 6% state tax collected by the Texas Comptroller, a 9% city tax, and a 2% venue tax dedicated to the Fort Worth Convention Center. If you rent out rooms, a guesthouse, or a whole home in Fort Worth for fewer than 30 consecutive days, you are responsible for collecting all three and remitting them to the right authorities on time.

What the 17% Rate Is Made Of

Three taxing authorities each take a share of every qualifying hotel bill in the city. The state’s 6% applies uniformly across Texas.¹

Fort Worth adds a 9% municipal hotel occupancy tax under Chapter 32, Article II of the city’s Code of Ordinances.² Most Texas cities are capped at 7%, but Fort Worth’s population lets it charge up to 9% as an “eligible central municipality” under state law.³

The third layer is a 2% venue tax authorized under Article III of the same chapter, approved by Fort Worth voters in a May 2024 special election to fund the convention center project.⁴ The 9% city rate plus the 2% venue tax give Fort Worth an 11% local portion. Add the state’s 6% and you reach 17%.

Which Rentals Are Covered

Texas defines “hotel” broadly. Any building where the public can rent sleeping accommodations is a hotel for tax purposes, which pulls in traditional hotels, motels, inns, bed and breakfasts, tourist homes, rooming houses, and short-term rentals listed on Airbnb, Vrbo, and similar platforms.⁵ Renting a spare bedroom, a casita, or an entire home for fewer than 30 consecutive days puts you inside the definition.

Before you list a property or take a guest, Fort Worth requires a valid short-term rental registration from the city. The application has to satisfy the short-term rental article, the tax chapter, and zoning rules.⁶ Operating without that registration exposes you to enforcement before anyone looks at your tax account.

Don’t Assume Your Platform Collects Everything

Airbnb collects and remits the 6% state hotel occupancy tax in Texas. As of the most recent available information, it has not entered a collection agreement with Fort Worth for the city’s 9% or the 2% venue tax. If your platform only covers the state portion, you are personally on the hook for the remaining 11%. Verify directly with both your platform and the Fort Worth Finance Department which taxes are being collected on your behalf. The city will come after you for any shortfall regardless of whose system was supposed to handle it.

Who Qualifies for an Exemption

A few guest categories don’t owe the tax, but the exemption only sticks when it is documented at the time of the stay.

Permanent residents. A guest who has the right to occupy a room for at least 30 consecutive days is not a transient occupant and is exempt from both state and municipal tax. The reservation or lease has to grant that 30-day right from the start. Someone who books night by night and happens to stay a month does not automatically qualify.⁷
Federal and state government employees on official travel. This covers employees of the federal government, the State of Texas, and Texas political subdivisions. Foreign government officials covered by a U.S. treaty also qualify.⁷
Qualifying nonprofits. Organizations exempt from federal income tax under IRC Section 501(c)(3) — religious, charitable, and educational groups — are exempt when the organization itself pays for the room.⁷

The Paperwork That Proves It

For the state tax, exempt guests must give the operator a completed Texas Comptroller Form 12-302 (Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemption Certificate) or equivalent documentation. Operators keep that certificate on file for four years after the date the tax would have been due.⁸ One important limit: Form 12-302 only covers the state’s 6%. It does not automatically exempt the guest from Fort Worth’s 11% local share. The municipal exemptions are separate, and operators should confirm with the city which guests qualify for relief from the local portion.

Federal employees on official travel can also present GSA Form SF1094 (United States Tax Exemption Form) as proof.⁹ Without proper documentation on file, you are liable for the uncollected tax if audited. A verbal claim is not enough.

Registering, Filing, and Paying

Every lodging provider in Fort Worth has to register with the city before collecting any tax. Short-term rental operators submit an annual Hotel Occupancy Tax Registration through the city’s online system to keep their registration active.¹⁰ Traditional hotels register through the same Finance Department portal.

Each filing reports total gross receipts from room rentals during the period, broken out into taxable and non-taxable amounts. The city’s online portal accepts electronic uploads and payments. You remit 11% of taxable receipts to Fort Worth (the 9% city rate plus the 2% venue tax). The 6% state portion goes separately to the Texas Comptroller through the Comptroller’s system or by mail.

Fort Worth reports monthly on hotel occupancy tax. The city filing deadline is the 25th of the month following the reporting period. The Comptroller sets its own filing schedule for the state’s 6%. Track both independently. Hitting one deadline while missing the other still produces penalties from the delinquent authority.

What Late or Unpaid Tax Costs You

Fort Worth’s enforcement tools under Texas Tax Code Section 351.004 are serious. If the municipal tax goes unpaid for at least one full fiscal quarter, the city can impose a penalty of 15% of the total tax owed. On top of that, the operator becomes liable for the city’s reasonable attorney’s fees if the case ends up in court and for the cost of any audit the city conducts. Interest accrues on unpaid penalties.¹¹ The city can also go to court for an order shutting down a hotel’s operations until the delinquent tax is paid or the required reports are filed.

Fort Worth has the authority to audit any property with delinquent filings and must give at least 30 days’ written notice before doing so. If you haven’t filed a local report, the city can estimate the tax owed from your state filings for the same period or from the prior year’s reports for the property. Those estimates are presumed correct, which puts the burden on you to prove otherwise. The statute of limitations on collection actions is four years from the date the tax becomes due, so the city has a long runway to reconstruct your liability from records you can’t dispute.

Records You Need to Keep

The Comptroller requires operators to retain exemption certificates for at least four years after the tax would have been due.⁸ Fort Worth’s short-term rental ordinance separately requires operators to maintain records consistent with the city’s hotel occupancy tax ordinance and to produce an occupancy history on request.¹²

For every reporting period, keep gross receipts from all room rentals, the breakdown of taxable versus exempt stays, copies of every exemption certificate you accepted, records of tax collected and remitted, and confirmation of payments to both the city and the Comptroller. The four-year audit window is the floor. Many tax professionals keep records for seven years as a practical safeguard.

1
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Hotel Occupancy Tax
2
City of Fort Worth. Ordinance Hotel Occupancy Tax – Section 32-17
3
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 351.003 – Tax Rates
4
Hotel Association of Tarrant County. FWCC Venue HOT Ordinance – Section 32-31
5
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 351 – Municipal Hotel Occupancy Taxes
6
American Legal Publishing. Fort Worth Code of Ordinances 7-455 – Short-Term Rental Registration Required
7
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 351 – Municipal Hotel Occupancy Taxes – Section 351.005
8
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Texas Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemption Certificate – Form 12-302
9
General Services Administration. United States Tax Exemption Form
10
City of Fort Worth. Hotel Occupancy Tax System
11
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 351 – Municipal Hotel Occupancy Taxes – Section 351.004
12
American Legal Publishing. Fort Worth Code of Ordinances 7-460 – Hotel Occupancy Taxes; Request for Occupancy History