Canton, OH Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Canton Codified Ordinances Chapter 185, the Transient Lodging Tax, levies a 3% excise tax on every transaction in which a hotel furnishes lodging to a transient guest, defined under section 185.03(e) as someone occupying a room for fewer than thirty consecutive days. Hotel under section 185.03(c) covers any establishment holding out sleeping accommodations to the public regardless of keyed entry or number of structures. The tax is collected at the time lodging is furnished under section 185.04 and does not apply to lodging furnished to the State or its political subdivisions; until the contrary is shown, all lodging furnished by City hotels to transient guests is presumed taxable.

The vendor, meaning the hotel owner or operator, must collect the tax from the guest, hold it in trust, and remit it to the City Treasurer, acting as Administrator under section 185.03(a); the tax must be separately stated on the guest's bill under section 185.04. Vendors and booking agents file quarterly returns by the fifteenth of the month following each quarter under section 185.07 and must keep records for three years, open to the Administrator's inspection under section 185.06. Disputes over an administrative ruling go to the Board of Review within sixty days, then to the court of common pleas under section 185.10.

Revenue is deposited to the General Fund unless the hotel sits within a Tourism Development District created by ordinance, in which case the funds pay for TDD debt and improvements, such as the Hall of Fame Village Redevelopment project, until that debt is repaid under section 185.18.