Kauai County, HI Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Kaua'i County Code § 5-4.1 establishes a 3.0% transient accommodations tax on all gross rental, gross rental proceeds, and fair market rental value taxable under Hawai'i Revised Statutes § 237D-1, reaching hotels, resort condominiums, and any other transient accommodation on the island; the Council enacted it as Ord. No. 1099 on September 16, 2021, using authority the state legislature gave counties in Part III of Act 1, Session Laws of Hawai'i 2021, and amended the article by Ord. No. 1109 on April 7, 2022. Section 5-4.2 imports the HRS § 237D-1 definitions wholesale, and § 5-4.4 does the same for the HRS § 237D-3 exemptions, so any stay exempt from the state's transient accommodations tax is exempt from the county's 3% add-on too.

Resort time share vacation plans get their own liability rule under § 5-4.3(c): each plan must be represented by a plan manager who is personally liable for paying the county tax on the plan's behalf. If the IRS later adjusts a taxpayer's federal figures, § 5-4.8 requires the same reflective adjustment to be reported to the County Finance Director. All of it stays confidential: § 5-4.13 makes it unlawful for any County officer or employee, including an auditor, to disclose return information to anyone outside the taxpayer, an authorized agent, or a person with a material interest such as a partner or trustee.