Elyria, OH Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax rate
- Three percent of rents for lodging
- Who is covered
- Hotels and motels with five or more guest rooms
- Transient guest
- Occupies a room for less than thirty consecutive days
- Returns due
- Last day of the month after each calendar quarter
- Registration
- With the City Auditor within thirty days of starting business
- Records kept
- Four years, open to the Auditor
- Late interest
- One-half of one percent per month, plus surcharge
Summary
The City of Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio, levies a three percent excise tax on rents paid by transient guests for hotel lodging. The operator collects it as trustee for the City and files returns with the City Auditor each quarter. Chapter 193 reaches hotels and motels with five or more rooms.
For the purpose of providing revenue with which to meet the needs of the City, for the use of the General Fund of the City, an excise tax is hereby levied on transactions by which lodging by a hotel is or is to be furnished to transient guests. The tax is three percent on all rents paid or to be paid by the transient guest for lodging. Such tax constitutes a debt owed by the transient guest to the City, which is extinguished only by payment to the operator as trustee for the City, or to the City. The tax applies and is collectible at the time the lodging is furnished regardless of the time when the price is paid. For the purposes of the proper administration of this chapter, and to prevent the evasion of the tax, it is presumed that all lodging furnished by hotels in the City to transient guests is subject to the tax until the contrary is established.
Full Breakdown
Elyria Codified Ordinances § 193.03 imposes an excise tax on transactions by which lodging by a hotel is furnished to transient guests. The rate is three percent of all rents paid or to be paid for lodging, and the revenue goes to the General Fund of the City. The tax is a debt the guest owes the City, extinguished only by payment to the operator as trustee for the City, or to the City. It attaches when the lodging is furnished, whatever the date the price is paid. All lodging furnished by hotels in the City to transient guests is presumed taxable until the contrary is established.
The definitions in § 193.02 set the reach. A hotel or motel is an establishment where sleeping accommodations are offered for consideration and five or more rooms are used for guests, whether in one structure or several. Transient guests are persons occupying a room for sleeping accommodations for less than thirty consecutive days. Rent includes cash, credits, property and services received for occupancy. The chapter as printed contains no reference to short-term rentals or home-sharing, so its text is built around the hotel and its operator.
Operators carry the paperwork. Under § 193.07 the tax appears separately from the rent on every record and bill, and an operator cannot advertise that the tax will be absorbed or refunded. Under § 193.08 each operator registers the hotel with the City Auditor within thirty days of commencing business and posts the transient occupancy registration certificate in a conspicuous place. Section 193.09 requires records to be kept four years and opened to the Auditor in business hours. Section 193.10 requires a return on or before the last day of the month after each calendar quarter, with the full tax remitted when the return is filed. Exemptions under § 193.04 cover rents outside the City's taxing power and rents paid by the State of Ohio or its political subdivisions, claimed under penalty of perjury on an Auditor form.
Violations & Fines
Section 193.11 charges interest on unpaid tax at one-half of one percent per month or fraction thereof, plus a surcharge of one-half of one percent per month, not to exceed fifty percent of the tax due. Under § 193.99 a violation is a minor misdemeanor for the first offense with a fine of not more than $100. Each later offense is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree, with a fine of not more than $250 or imprisonment of not more than thirty days, or both. Section 193.12 bars failing to file a required report or acting to avoid the tax.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the hotel tax rate in the City of Elyria?
Who has to register with the City Auditor?
Does the Elyria lodging tax mention short-term rentals?
When are returns due and what happens if tax is paid late?
Which rents are exempt from the tax?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Elyria
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