The Deschutes County transient room tax is an 8% tax on short-term lodging stays in the unincorporated parts of the county, which the county formally calls the transient lodging tax. If you rent out a house, hotel or motel room, or RV space for fewer than 30 consecutive days anywhere outside the city limits of Bend, Redmond, Sisters, and La Pine, you have to collect that 8% from your guests and send it to the county.1Deschutes County. Transient Lodging Tax Oregon layers a separate 1.5% state lodging tax on the same stays, so the real combined bite on a guest’s bill is 9.5%.
Where the Tax Applies
The county tax only reaches properties in unincorporated Deschutes County. Rentals inside Bend, Redmond, Sisters, or La Pine fall under those cities’ own lodging taxes, with their own rates and registration systems.1Deschutes County. Transient Lodging Tax If your parcel sits anywhere near a city boundary, confirm which jurisdiction it’s actually in before you register. Registering with the wrong one does not satisfy the right one.
Who Has to Collect It
Deschutes County Code Chapter 4.08 treats both lodging providers and lodging intermediaries as “operators,” and both share the duty to collect and remit the 8%.2Deschutes County. Deschutes County Code 4.08 – Transient Lodging Tax In plain terms, that means platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo count as operators alongside you. Some of them collect and remit the tax automatically on your behalf. That convenience does not transfer your legal liability. If the tax goes unpaid, the county can still come after you, and you still have to file your own returns with the county covering the activity, even when the platform handled the money.
What’s Taxable, What’s Not
The tax applies to the total rent charged for occupancy of fewer than 30 consecutive calendar days, counting any partial day as a full day.2Deschutes County. Deschutes County Code 4.08 – Transient Lodging Tax Someone paying by the month, regardless of how many days that month happens to contain, isn’t a taxable occupant.
Deschutes County Code 4.08.130 carves out a short list of exemptions, and they are narrower than most operators assume:3Deschutes County. Deschutes County Code 4.08 – Section: 4.08.130 Exemptions
- Stays of 30 or more consecutive days by the same person. The physical unit can change during that stretch as long as all units are in the same facility and the paying person stays the same.
- Dwelling units charging less than $10 per day, but only when the unit’s actual purpose is emergency or temporary shelter. A regular vacation rental priced under $10 doesn’t qualify.
- U.S. government employees on official business, where the federal government pays directly or the employee pays with a government-issued check, credit card, or purchase order. Personal card plus later reimbursement doesn’t count.
- Employees of federally chartered organizations on official business, under the same direct-payment rules.
- Dwelling units in licensed health care facilities and facilities providing drug, alcohol, or mental health treatment.
- Units at nonprofit youth camps, church camps, and nonprofit conference centers.
If you don’t collect tax on a stay because an exemption applied, hold onto the documentation: government payment records, travel orders, or whatever supports the claim. In an audit the burden sits on you.
Register Before You Rent
Two separate requirements come before your first guest. First, the rental has to be lawfully established under the county’s planning, onsite wastewater, and building safety codes. Accommodations in accessory structures are not permitted. The planning division will confirm whether your specific property qualifies if you email Planning@deschutes.org.4Deschutes County, OR. FAQs Tax registration does not legalize an otherwise unlawful rental.
Second, register each property with the Deschutes County Tax Office. Every property gets its own Deschutes County Certificate of Authority number (DCCA Number), though you can group multiple properties under one online reporting profile. The Certificate of Authority has to be posted somewhere conspicuous inside the unit the whole time it operates.5Deschutes County, OR. Transient Lodging Tax Frequently Asked Questions
Registration isn’t one-and-done. The Certificate of Authority has to be renewed every year.1Deschutes County. Transient Lodging Tax Keep operating with a lapsed certificate and you’ve handed an auditor an easy finding.
Filing Schedules and How to Pay
The county offers monthly or quarterly filing. Monthly filers submit their return and payment by the 15th of the following month. Quarterly filers use the same 15th-of-the-month rhythm, four times a year: April 15 for January through March, then July 15, October 15, and January 15.6Deschutes County. Frequently Asked Questions – Section: When is the tax due?
Returns go through the county’s online portal, which calculates the 8% automatically once you enter gross rent. Payment options include ACH transfer, credit card, or a mailed check, and the portal issues a confirmation receipt when the return and payment land.
Even if a booking platform collected and remitted the tax for you, file a return reporting the activity. For periods with no bookings at all, a zero-dollar return may still be required.
Late Payment Penalties
The due date is the 15th, but the county extends a grace period through the last day of that same month before penalties and interest start accruing.6Deschutes County. Frequently Asked Questions – Section: When is the tax due? After that, two penalty tiers apply:
- A 10% penalty on taxable rent once the return or payment is later than the last day of the month after the due date.6Deschutes County. Frequently Asked Questions – Section: When is the tax due?
- An additional 15% penalty, stacking on the first, if the return is still outstanding past the last day of the second month after the due date. Total: 25% of the taxable rent.6Deschutes County. Frequently Asked Questions – Section: When is the tax due?
Monthly interest accrues on delinquent balances on top of those flat penalties. On small balances, the 10% can easily outrun the original tax owed, and letting a balance sit invites further collection action.
Don’t Forget the Oregon State Tax
The county’s 8% is only part of your obligation. Oregon imposes its own 1.5% state transient lodging tax on the same short-term stays, and you register for and remit it separately through the Oregon Department of Revenue.7Oregon Department of Revenue. Transient Lodging Tax The state tax runs on whoever actually collects payment, whether that’s an owner, a manager, or a platform. Missing the state side is one of the more common operator mistakes, and the state can assess penalties on its own schedule.
Federal Income Tax
The lodging tax you collect from guests is not your income. The rent itself is, and short-term rental revenue gets reported to the IRS on Schedule E of Form 1040.8Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule E (Form 1040), Supplemental Income and Loss Deductible expenses can offset that income: mortgage interest, insurance, maintenance, cleaning, depreciation, and the lodging taxes you remit to the county and state.
One narrow exception helps very occasional hosts. Rent your home for 14 days or fewer in a year and the IRS doesn’t require you to report the rental income at all. IRS Publication 527 covers that threshold and the full vacation rental rules.9Internal Revenue Service. About Publication 527, Residential Rental Property Cross 14 days and the whole year’s rental income becomes reportable. Clean records of booking dates, expenses, and tax remittances make all of this routine instead of stressful.