Mountain View, CA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax rate
- 10% of rent charged
- Transient definition
- 30 consecutive days or less
- Registration deadline
- 30 days after opening
- Original delinquency penalty
- 10% of tax due
- Fraud penalty
- Additional 25% of tax
- Enforcing official
- Tax Administrator (Director of Finance)
Summary
Mountain View taxes hotel stays at ten (10) percent of the rent charged. City Code Sec. 33.2 imposes the transient occupancy tax on any guest staying thirty (30) consecutive days or less, makes it a debt the guest owes the city until paid, and requires the operator to collect it at the time rent is paid, including a proportionate share on each installment.
For the privilege of occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to and shall pay a tax in the amount of ten (10) percent of the rent charged by the operator. Said tax constitutes a debt owed by the transient to the city which is extinguished only by payment to the operator or to the city. The transient shall pay the tax to the operator of the hotel at the time the rent is paid. If the rent is paid in installments, a proportionate share of the tax shall be paid with each installment. The unpaid tax shall be due upon the transient's ceasing to occupy space in the hotel. If for any reason the tax due is not paid to the operator of the hotel, the tax administrator may require that such tax shall be paid directly to the tax administrator.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 34 Update 4).
Full Breakdown
The tax applies to anyone renting space in a "hotel," a term Sec. 1 defines broadly to include any hotel, inn, tourist home, motel, studio hotel, lodging house, rooming house, apartment house, dormitory, public or private club, or mobilehome or house trailer at a fixed location. A guest counts as a "transient" under the same section only while occupying for thirty (30) consecutive calendar days or less; portions of a day count as a full day. Every operator must register with the tax administrator, the director of finance, within thirty (30) days of the ordinance's effective date or of opening for business, and post a transient occupancy registration certificate in a conspicuous place under Sec.
5. Sec. 4 bars an operator from advertising that the tax will be absorbed into the rent or refunded. Returns and full payment are due to the tax administrator on or before the last day of the month following each calendar quarter under Sec. 6, and immediately upon a business closing for any reason; all tax collected is held in trust for the city until remitted. Sec. 3 exempts occupancies the city lacks power to tax, foreign government officers and employees exempt by federal law or treaty, and federal, state, county or city officers or employees on official business who pay by government warrant or provide approved documentation, but only if claimed at the time rent is collected on a form signed under penalty of perjury.
Violations & Fines
An operator who fails to remit on time owes a ten (10) percent original delinquency penalty under Sec. 33.7(a), plus another ten (10) percent if the remittance is still unpaid thirty (30) days after it became delinquent under Sec. 33.7(b). If the tax administrator finds the nonpayment fraudulent, a further twenty-five (25) percent penalty applies under Sec. 33.7(c), on top of interest at one-half of one percent per month on the unpaid tax. All penalties and interest become part of the tax owed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Mountain View's hotel occupancy tax?
Does the tax apply to a guest who stays a month or longer?
What happens if a hotel operator pays the tax late?
Do short-term rental hosts have to register for this tax?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mountain View
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Transient Occupancy Tax in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Santa Clara County handle transient occupancy tax.