Calvert County, MD Short-Term Rentals: Host Platform Liability (2026)

Article IV of Chapter 136 assigns tax-collection responsibility jointly to whichever party actually handles the money. Section 136-21 defines a HOST as the legal owner of a residential dwelling unit who provides or offers to provide all or part of it as a lodging accommodation, and a HOSTING PLATFORM as a person or entity that facilitates the rental by providing booking services through which the host may lawfully offer the unit as a hotel. Section 136-23C then makes clear that the accommodations tax collected on a transient charge is held in trust by the hotel, booking service, hosting platform, record owner of the property, or their agent, whichever one actually collects it, until it is remitted to the County.

That trust duty runs alongside the filing obligation in § 136-23D, which requires the hotel, booking service, hosting platform, record owner or agent to complete, sign and file the County's accommodations tax return and remit full payment by the 21st day of each month for the prior month's transient charges. 5% of the gross tax collected under § 136-23E as an administrative allowance, but forfeits it if the return or payment misses the due date. Nothing in Article IV shifts a hosting platform's zoning or licensing obligations onto the host, and the article does not create a private right of action between host and platform; it only defines who must hold and remit the County's tax.