Richmond, VA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

City Code Article X (Sec. ) taxes the total room charge paid by a transient, defined as anyone who obtains lodging for fewer than 90 consecutive days, at 8 percent under Sec. 26-725. The tax applies to hotels, motels, inns, tourist homes, rooming houses and any other lodging place in the City, including stays booked through an accommodations intermediary such as a short-term rental platform. Sec. 26-727 makes the accommodations provider responsible for collecting the tax on direct bookings, and shifts that duty to the accommodations intermediary whenever a platform facilitates the sale; the intermediary must separately state the tax on the guest's bill and remit it to the Collector, defined as the Director of Finance or a designee.

All tax collected is held in trust for the City. Sec. 26-726 exempts room charges paid to hospitals, medical clinics, convalescent homes or homes for the aged, space rentals at travel campgrounds, full-time students at a City school or college, and film or video production crews who commit to and complete at least 30 days of lodging. Sec. 26-728 requires monthly reports and remittance by the 20th of the month following collection, and requires intermediaries to report property addresses and gross receipts for every facilitated accommodation monthly. Sec. 26-731 lets the Collector adopt rules for determining amounts due, and noncompliance with those rules is itself a violation of the article.