Jefferson Parish, LA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax 1
- 1% parish-wide, hotels with 10+ rooms (Sec. 35-200)
- Tax 2
- 1% East Bank, hotels with 2+ rooms (Sec. 35-205)
- Tax 3
- 1% parish-wide, stacks with others (Sec. 35-210)
- Collection fee cap
- Up to 11% kept by sheriff before remittance
- Municipal share
- 50% net proceeds to qualifying municipality
- STR treatment
- Pays $2/room license tax, not this tax
Summary
Jefferson Parish stacks multiple one-percent hotel occupancy taxes: a parish-wide tax on hotels with ten or more guest rooms under Sec. 35-200, a second one-percent East Bank tax on hotels with as few as two rooms under Sec. 35-205, and a third parish-wide one-percent tax under Sec. 35-210. Short-term rentals pay the separate occupational license tax instead, not this occupancy tax.
Sec. 35-200. - Imposed. The one (1) percent occupancy tax as authorized by Act No. 265 of the 1989 regular session of the state legislature is hereby imposed on the paid occupancy of the hotel rooms located in hotels containing ten (10) or more guest rooms in the parish, beginning on September 1, 1989. [...] Sec. 35-210. - Imposed. The one (1) percent hotel occupancy tax as authorized by R.S. 33:2740.18.2 is hereby imposed on the paid occupancy of the hotel rooms located within Jefferson Parish in addition to all other taxes being levied upon the occupancy of hotel rooms in the parish.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 20 Update 2).
Full Breakdown
Section 35-200 imposes a one (1) percent occupancy tax on the paid occupancy of hotel rooms in hotels of ten (10) or more guest rooms parish-wide, effective September 1, 1989, under authority of Act No. 265 of the 1989 Louisiana legislative session. Section 35-205 layers a second, separate one (1) percent tax on hotels with as few as two (2) guest rooms, but only on the East Bank of the Mississippi River, authorized by 1991 Act No. 751 and Act No. 10, so an East Bank hotel with ten or more rooms can owe both taxes at once.
S. 2, expressly imposed in addition to all other taxes being levied upon the occupancy of hotel rooms in the parish. The sheriff collects these taxes and, under Sec. 35-201, Sec. 35-206 and Sec. 35-212, keeps a collection fee of not more than eleven (11) percent before remitting the balance; fifty (50) percent of the net proceeds from hotels inside an incorporated municipality goes to that municipality's designated tourism-promotion body, with the remainder to the parish's finance director. Section 35-202 further splits the parish's own share of the Act No.
265 tax, sending thirty (30) percent of the tax collected from hotels in each municipality back to that municipality, except that all tax collected from Grand Isle hotels goes to Grand Isle because of its distance from either planned convention center. Section 35-203 escrows what remains by geography, funding a convention/multipurpose center and tourism programs in East Jefferson from East Bank proceeds and the equivalent in West Jefferson from West Bank proceeds, while Sec. 35-211 dedicates the Sec. 35-210 tax's net proceeds to tourism programs and special events parish-wide.
The parish's lodging-license chapter separately defines hotel as a building of six (6) or more guest rooms with interior-lobby access held out publicly as a hotel, distinct from a short-term rental; consistent with that line, Sec. 35-200, Sec. 35-205 and Sec. 00-per-room annual occupational license tax under Sec. 35-179(i) rather than this occupancy tax.
Violations & Fines
Article VII does not carry its own delinquency-penalty clause; instead, enforcement runs through the sheriff's collection and remittance duties in Sec. 35-201, Sec. 35-206 and Sec. 35-212, which cap the sheriff's collection fee at eleven (11) percent and condition a municipality's fifty-percent share on proof that it has designated a body under R.S. 33:2740.18.2(D) to actually spend the money on tourism and visitation. Because the finance director verifies each municipality's showing before releasing its share, a hotel or municipality that cannot document proper tourism-fund use risks losing its distribution of the proceeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Jefferson Parish's hotel occupancy tax rate?
Do short-term rentals in Jefferson Parish pay the hotel occupancy tax?
Who collects Jefferson Parish's hotel occupancy tax and where does the money go?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Jefferson Parish
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