Tucson, AZ Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax rate
- 9% of rent charged to transients
- Surtax
- $0.00 per 24-hour occupancy period
- Transient defined
- stay under 30 consecutive days
- Registration deadline
- 30 days after commencing business
- License fee
- $25.00 nonrefundable
- Enforcing office
- City of Tucson Director of Finance
- Cancellation trigger
- 6 months with no return filed
Summary
Every operator of a hotel, lodging house, apartment house, or recreation vehicle park in Tucson owes a 9 percent occupational license tax on rent charged to transients, guests staying under 30 consecutive days, under City Code § 19-66(a). A separate per-occupancy surtax under § 19-66(b) currently sits at $0.00. The tax is a license tax on the transient rental occupation, not a general business privilege tax, and is owed monthly as rent is charged.
Every person who operates or causes to be operated a hotel or recreation vehicle park within the city is subject to and shall pay an occupational license tax in an amount equal to nine (9) percent of the rent charged by the operator to a transient. The transient rental occupational license tax imposed on the class of lodging house and recreation vehicle park operators serving transients as defined in section 19-1 is not on the privilege of doing business within the city, but is a license tax on the transient rental occupation.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-150: Current through June 23, 2026).
Full Breakdown
Tucson's transient rental occupational license tax is codified at City Code Chapter 19, Article I, Division 5 (§§ 19-66, 19-79). Section 19-66(a) sets the base rate at nine percent of rent charged to a 'transient', defined at § 19-1 as anyone who obtains lodging on a daily, weekly, or other basis for less than thirty consecutive days. 'Hotel' is defined broadly at § 19-1 to include any structure occupied by transients for dwelling, lodging, or sleeping purposes, expressly naming hotels, motels, tourist homes, lodging houses, rooming houses, apartment houses, and mobile homes; recreation vehicle parks are taxed at the same rate.
Section 19-66(b) layers on a variable per-occupancy surtax calculated for each 24-hour period or fraction rented; per Ord. No. 12215 and No. 00. Six categories of income are excluded under § 19-66(c), including proceeds from incarcerating federal, state, or other-jurisdiction prisoners in a privately operated facility, income already taxed under other chapter 19 business-activity provisions, and telephone, fax, or internet charges billed separately and instead taxed as telecommunications services. 00 fee. Under § 19-70, the tax may be excluded from taxable rental income only where the operator's records show it was separately itemized to the guest.
Violations & Fines
Operating a hotel, motel, or RV park in Tucson without a transient rental tax license is unlawful under § 19-75, and the tax collector may assess back taxes, interest, and penalties on all untaxed occupancy. Under § 19-74, the tax collector may revoke a license for nonpayment or cancel it as inactive after six consecutive months (two quarters, or one missed annual filing) with no return filed; the licensee gets notice and, if a hearing is requested within 20 days, a hearing before the tax collector before relicensing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tucson's hotel occupancy tax rate?
Who counts as a 'transient' under the tax?
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Tucson
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Transient Occupancy Tax in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Pima County handle transient occupancy tax.