New Rochelle, NY Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Chapter 288, Article X of the New Rochelle City Code, adopted September 17, 2009 by Local Law No. 3-2009, imposes a 3% tax on the rent charged for every occupancy of a room in a hotel within the City, effective October 1, 2009 (§ 288-34). The code defines HOTEL broadly to include apartment hotels, motels, boardinghouses, tourist homes, motel courts, clubs and similar facilities with at least four rentable rooms for lodging (§ 288-33). D expressly exempts any hotel, as defined in the article, having fewer than four rentable rooms, so a typical single-unit Airbnb or single-family short-term rental falls outside the tax entirely.

Occupants who stay at least 90 consecutive days are treated as permanent residents and are also exempt, as are occupants whose rent is paid through Westchester County public assistance (§ 288-33). Every operator must register with the City Commissioner of Finance within 10 days of the effective date, or within three days of opening a new hotel, and must display the resulting certificate of authority where guests can see it (§ 288-38). Operators collect the tax as trustee for the City and file quarterly returns within 20 days after the close of each March, June, September and December period, remitting the tax with that return (§§ 288-41, 288-42).

The Commissioner of Finance can require records be kept for three years, audit them at any time, and estimate tax due from external indices such as room count and comparable rents when a return is missing or incorrect (§§ 288-40, 288-43). A taxpayer disputing an assessment must pursue an Article 78 proceeding in State Supreme Court within 30 days of the determination, after first depositing the assessed tax and posting a surety undertaking (§ 288-43). All revenue collected is deposited into the City's general fund rather than earmarked for tourism promotion (§ 288-44).