Lakewood, WA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax rate
- 7% of lodging charge
- Fund
- Fund 104, hotel-motel/lodging tax
- Collector
- WA Dept. of Revenue
- Applies to
- Stays under one continuous month
- Review body
- Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
- Governing chapter
- LMC Chapter 3.36
Summary
Lakewood, Washington (Pierce County) imposes a 7 percent special excise tax on lodging charges under LMC 3.36.010. The tax hits hotels, motels, rooming houses, tourist courts and trailer camps, and applies to any stay short enough to count as a mere license to use real property rather than a rental.
There is hereby created a special excise tax of seven percent on the sale of or charge made for the furnishing of lodging that is subject to tax under Chapters 67.28 and 82.08 RCW. Of this tax, two percent is assessed pursuant to the terms of RCW 67.28.180, two percent is assessed pursuant to the terms of RCW 67.28.181(1) and three percent is assessed pursuant to the terms of RCW 67.28.181(2). The tax imposed under this section applies to the sale of or charge made for the furnishing of lodging by a hotel, motel, rooming house, tourist court, or trailer camp, and the granting of any similar license to use real property as distinguished from the renting or leasing of real property. It shall be presumed that the occupancy of real property for a continuous period of one month or more constitutes a rental or lease of real property and not a mere license to use or enjoy the same.
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance 852, passed June 15, 2026).
Full Breakdown
36 levies the City's lodging tax on top of the sales tax already due on short-term stays. 181(2). The tax reaches lodging furnished by a hotel, motel, rooming house, tourist court, or trailer camp, and it treats a stay under this arrangement as a license to use real property, not a lease, unless the occupancy runs a continuous month or more, in which case the code presumes a rental or lease instead and the lodging tax does not apply. That length-of-stay line is what pulls short-term rental bookings on platforms into the tax base alongside traditional hotels.
010 wholesale for anything the chapter itself does not define. 08 RCW. 28 RCW. 32 RCW, plus whatever forms the Department prescribes. 055, split between tax-paying lodging businesses and tourism-funded recipients and chaired by an elected City official, must review any proposal to raise the rate, repeal an exemption, or change how proceeds are spent at least 45 days before the Council acts.
Violations & Fines
Because the Department of Revenue collects and administers the tax as the City's agent, enforcement follows the state's sales-tax collection and audit machinery under Chapter 82.32 RCW rather than a separate City penalty schedule. A lodging operator that fails to collect or remit the 7 percent tax is exposed to the same delinquency interest, penalties, and assessment procedures the Department applies to unpaid state retail sales tax, since Section 3.36.060 folds City lodging-tax administration into that existing framework.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Lakewood's hotel lodging tax rate?
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Lakewood
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Transient Occupancy Tax in Nearby Cities
How other cities in this county handle transient occupancy tax.