Mount Pleasant, SC Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Chapter 114 of the Mount Pleasant Code of Ordinances creates a Municipal Accommodations Fee separate from the state's own accommodations tax and the town's hospitality tax on food and beverages in Chapter 115. 02 defines an ACCOMMODATION broadly as any room, campground space, recreational vehicle space, lodging or sleeping accommodation furnished to transients by a hotel, motel, inn, condominium, bed and breakfast, residence, or any other place where sleeping accommodations are furnished for consideration in town, but excludes stays of more than 30 continuous days, which are not treated as proceeds from transients.

That definition is what pulls short-term rentals of houses and condos into the fee alongside traditional hotels. 03 sets the fee itself at a uniform 1% of gross proceeds from renting any accommodation in town. Under Sec. 04, the guest who uses the accommodation bears the fee, the operator collects it at the time of delivering the accommodation, and Charleston County handles the return form and remittance, due by the 20th of each month at the county's Courthouse Square office. 05 channels the money into a segregated Accommodations Fee Special Revenue Fund, and Sec.

07 lets the town's Director of Business License inspect and audit an operator's books on 24 hours' written notice. Violations under Sec. 98, such as failing to collect or remit the fee or filing false information, are penalized under Sec. 99 at 5% of the unpaid fee per month, capped at 100%, plus a possible $500 misdemeanor fine or up to 30 days in jail.