Roanoke, VA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax rate
- 8% of total room charge
- Applies to stays under
- 90 consecutive days
- Remittance deadline
- 20th of following month
- Late penalty
- 10% plus statutory interest
- Violation penalty
- Class 1 misdemeanor
- Enforcing office
- Commissioner of the Revenue / Treasurer
Summary
Roanoke levies an 8 percent transient occupancy tax on the total room charge paid by any guest who rents a hotel, motel, inn, tourist home, or similar lodging for fewer than 90 consecutive days. Operators and booking platforms collect the tax and remit it monthly to the city treasurer.
In addition to all other taxes of every kind now or hereafter imposed by law, there is hereby imposed and levied, for the purpose of funding the general operation of the city government, a tax equivalent to eight percent (8%) of the total room charge paid by the transient for the use or possession of a room or space occupied for lodging by or for any such transient to any accommodations. In computation of this tax, any fraction of one-half cent ($0.005) or more shall be treated as one cent ($0.01).
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 94 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
City Code Sec. 32-240 imposes the tax on top of all other taxes, computed on the full room charge with fractions of a half-cent or more rounded up to the next cent. Sec. 32-239 defines the accommodations subject to the tax broadly, covering any hotel, inn, apartment, hostelry, tourist home, motel, or rooming house in the city, and defines a transient as anyone using a room or space for lodging for fewer than 90 consecutive days. The 2026 amendment (Ord. No. 43355) added detailed rules for online booking platforms: an 'accommodations intermediary' that facilitates a room sale, collects the room charge, or charges its own fee must itself collect and remit the tax on the room charge under Sec.
32-242, and must separately state the tax on the customer's bill. Reports and remittances are due to the commissioner of the revenue by the twentieth of the month following collection under Sec. 32-243, and an intermediary must report property addresses and gross receipts for every facilitated accommodation monthly. Three narrow exceptions exist under Sec. 32-241: rooms paid for by a federal, state, or city official on official business; rooms paid to a hospital, medical clinic, nursing home, or home for the aged; and space rented to a travel campground.
Records documenting the tax collected must be kept for the current year plus three prior years under Sec. 32-245, and the commissioner of revenue may inspect them at any reasonable time.
Violations & Fines
Failing to file the required report or remit the tax on time draws a 10 percent penalty under Sec. 32-226.1/32-247.1, plus interest at the maximum rate the Commonwealth allows under Va. Code Sec. 58.1-15. Any person who violates the article, including failing to collect, report, or remit the tax, or filing a false return, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor under Sec. 32-247, and conviction does not excuse the underlying tax debt. The commissioner of revenue and designees hold police powers to summon violators under Sec. 32-248.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Roanoke's hotel occupancy tax rate?
Do booking platforms like Expedia have to collect Roanoke's occupancy tax?
Are any stays exempt from Roanoke's transient occupancy tax?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Roanoke
Compare Roanoke to another location·View the Virginia hotels & lodging overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.