Bowling Green, KY Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Sec. 18-6.01(a) of the Bowling Green Code of Ordinances imposes a three percent transient room tax on the rate, rent or other charge for occupancy of a room, cabin, lodging, campsite or other overnight accommodation let by a motor court, motel, hotel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin, campground, recreational vehicle park or similar establishment in the City, and the Subchapter specifically extends that tax to rentals arranged through online travel companies or any person who brokers, coordinates or otherwise arranges the rental. A short-term rental host who lists a property through a booking platform therefore owes the tax the same as a hotel front desk.

Sec. 18-6.01(c) closes the collection gap created by third-party platforms: regardless of whether the City has struck an agreement with an online rental company to collect the tax, every person, firm, organization or business subject to the Subchapter remains liable for filing the required return and paying any transient room tax the online rental company does not collect or remit. Sec. 18-6.01(e) backs that liability with real exposure: unpaid tax draws twelve percent annual interest plus a five percent penalty per month or partial month, capped at twenty-five percent of the tax due but never less than twenty-five dollars, and a host who fails, neglects or refuses to file a return or pay the tax is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of one hundred to five hundred dollars, up to thirty days in jail, or both, with every day of noncompliance a separate offense. Stays of thirty consecutive days or more are exempt from the tax under Sec. 18-6.01(a).