Calvert County, MD Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)
Key Facts
- Tax rate
- 5% of the transient charge
- Filing deadline
- 21st of each month
- On-time incentive
- 0.5% administrative retention
- Enacted
- Ord. No. 36-22, effective 8-30-2022
- Who must file
- Hosts, booking services, hosting platforms, owners
- Enforcing office
- Calvert County Department of Finance and Budget
Summary
Calvert County charges a 5% accommodations tax on every short-term rental transient charge collected in the unincorporated county, outside Chesapeake Beach and North Beach. Hosts, booking services, hosting platforms, property owners or their agents must file a monthly accommodations tax return and remit payment to the County by the 21st day of the following month under Calvert County Code § 136-22 and § 136-23.
§ 136-22. Imposition and rate. The Board hereby imposes an accommodations tax in the amount of 5% of the amount paid as a transient charge. § 136-23. Payment, collection and return. ... ... D. Hotel, booking service, hosting platform, record owner(s) of the property, or their agent shall, on the form the County requires, complete, sign and file an accommodations tax return and remit payment in full to the County on or before the 21st day of each month for the preceding month. E. The remitter of the accommodations tax, for administrative costs, may retain 1/2 of 1% (0.5%) of the gross amount of the accommodations tax collected, provided that the remitter, on or before the due date: (1) Files the accommodation tax return; and (2) Pays to the County the accommodation tax.
Full Breakdown
The accommodations tax is imposed under Article IV of Chapter 136, adopted August 30, 2022 by Ordinance No. 36-22, which repealed the former Hotel Rental Tax article that had been in place since 2003. Section 136-22 sets the rate at 5% of the amount paid as a transient charge, defined in § 136-21 as a charge for sleeping accommodations for a period not exceeding four consecutive months. Section 136-23 requires the hotel, booking service, hosting platform, record owner or their agent to complete, sign and file an accommodations tax return on a County-prescribed form and remit full payment on or before the 21st day of each month for the prior month's activity.
The recipient of the tax must also give the paying guest a bill that lists the accommodations tax as a line item separate from the room charge. 5% of the gross accommodations tax collected to cover administrative costs, but only if both the return and the payment reach the County by the due date; missing the deadline forfeits that retention. The Board of County Commissioners may adopt further regulations under Title 20 of the Local Government Article and Title 11 of the Tax-General Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland to administer collection.
Because Calvert County is a commissioner county, these filing duties fall on operators of short-term rentals booked through a hosting platform anywhere in the unincorporated county; Chesapeake Beach and North Beach administer their own municipal tax rules separately.
Violations & Fines
Calvert County Code does not print a standalone criminal fine schedule inside Article IV, but § 136-23E ties compliance directly to money: file or pay after the 21st and the operator forfeits the 0.5% administrative retention on the entire accommodations tax collected that month. Because § 136-23C holds the tax in trust for the County, the Department of Finance and Budget can pursue collection of unpaid or late-remitted accommodations tax as trust funds owed, in addition to any surety-bond-backed enforcement the Board authorizes under § 136-24.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Calvert County's short-term rental accommodations tax rate?
Who has to file the accommodations tax return for a short-term rental?
Can a short-term rental host keep part of the tax collected?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Calvert County
How Calvert County compares: Cities with the Highest Short-Term Rental Taxes·Compare Calvert County to another location·View the Maryland short-term rentals overview
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