Owensboro, KY Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Base tax rate
- 3% of rent
- Convention Center add-on
- Additional 1% of rent
- Exemption
- Stays of 30+ consecutive days
- 3% distributed to
- Owensboro Tourist and Convention Commission
- 1% distributed to
- Owensboro Convention Center
- Compliance deadline
- March 1, 2025
Summary
In the City of Owensboro, Municipal Code § 16-70.35 imposes a transient room tax of 3 percent, plus an additional 1 percent for the Owensboro Convention Center, on rent charged by hotels, motels, inns, campgrounds, and other transient lodging, as well as brokered short-term rentals. Stays of 30 days or more are exempt.
A transient room tax shall be imposed within the city limits of Owensboro at the rate of three (3) percent on the rent for every occupancy of a suite, room, rooms, cabins, lodgings, campsites, or other accommodations charged by any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin, campgrounds, recreational vehicle parks, or any other place in which accommodations are regularly furnished to transients for consideration or by any person that facilitates the rental of the accommodations by brokering, coordinating, or in any other way arranging for the rental of the accommodations. An additional transient room tax of one (1) percent shall be imposed for the purposes of meeting the operating expenses of the Owensboro Convention Center.
Full Breakdown
Adopted under § 16-70.35, Owensboro's transient room tax applies to the rent charged for every occupancy of a room, cabin, campsite, or similar accommodation by a hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin, campground, or recreational vehicle park, and it reaches any person who brokers, coordinates, or otherwise arranges such a rental, sweeping in short-term rental platforms alongside traditional lodging. The base rate is 3 percent, with an additional 1 percent layered on specifically to fund the operating expenses of the Owensboro Convention Center. Section 16-70.37 exempts rent for a continuous stay of 30 days or more from both the 3 percent and 1 percent tax.
Under § 16-70.38, the city distributes the 3 percent tax monthly to the Owensboro Tourist and Convention Commission for tourism and convention promotion under KRS 91A.390(3), or to reimburse the city for related contractual services, while the additional 1 percent goes monthly to the Owensboro Convention Center itself. The party receiving the rent must file a monthly report with the City of Owensboro Finance Department and remit the tax by the last day of the following month under § 16-70.39, and § 16-70.41 makes noncompliance a misdemeanor punishable by up to $500 or 30 days in jail, with every improperly filed month a separate offense; compliance with the division was required by March 1, 2025.
Violations & Fines
Failing to collect, report, or remit the transient room tax is a misdemeanor under § 16-70.41, punishable by up to a $500 fine, up to 30 days in jail, or both, with every month a required report went unfiled counted as its own offense. Late filings also draw the 10 percent late fee and 6 percent annual interest set out in § 16-70.39.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Owensboro's hotel tax rate?
Does Owensboro's hotel tax apply to Airbnb and VRBO?
Is a long-term extended stay exempt from Owensboro's room tax?
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Sources & Official References
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