Orange County, NY Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

The Orange County Legislature enacted Local Law No. 12 of 2025 on November 24, 2025, amending Local Law No. 13 of 2009, the county's original Hotel and Motel Occupancy Tax Local Law, and renaming it the Orange County Hotel, Motel and Short Term Rental Unit Occupancy Tax Local Law. Section 3, as amended, imposes a flat 5% tax on the rent charged for every occupancy of a room in a hotel or a short-term rental unit anywhere in the county. The tax authority for the hotel and motel side rests on New York Tax Law § 1202-aa; the extension to short-term rentals rests on New York Tax Law § 1200 and the county's opt-in as a 'covered jurisdiction' under Real Property Law Article 12-D.

Two classes of occupants are carved out of the tax base. Under the amended Section 2, a 'permanent resident' is anyone occupying a room for at least 30 consecutive days, and that whole stay is untaxed. An 'exempt occupant' is anyone whose rent is paid from Orange County public assistance, regardless of how long they stay. The law also amended Section 5(3) to exempt rooms operated by qualifying nonprofit, religious, charitable or educational organizations, as long as the organization is not running the lodging as a for-profit trade or business.

'Hotel' is defined broadly under Section 2(e) to reach hotels, motels, apartment hotels, boarding houses, clubs, tourist homes, motel courts, bed-and-breakfasts, inns and housekeeping cottages, whether or not meals are served, so the 5% rate applies uniformly across traditional lodging and the newer short-term rental category the county added in 2025.