Clarksville, TN Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Sec. 5-311(b) makes short-term rental owners responsible for every tax layer that applies to the property and the business: real and personal property taxes, the local hotel/motel tax, sales taxes, gross receipts taxes, and any employment and income taxes owed to the City of Clarksville, Montgomery County, the State of Tennessee, or the federal government. That obligation isn't just background law: Sec. 5-304(a)(1) requires every operating permit applicant to submit a written, sworn acknowledgment that they've read the chapter's regulations and will comply with and pay the hotel/motel tax as levied by the city, county, and state, and to attach proof of a City of Clarksville business license to the application.

Because that acknowledgment is a required piece of the application packet reviewed by the Department of Finance and Revenue, a permit application is incomplete without it, and the same department that issues and renews the operating permit also administers the hotel/motel tax and business license requirements the owner is certifying compliance with. Nothing in Chapter 3 sets the hotel/motel tax rate itself; the rate and collection mechanics run through the city's separate hotel/motel and business tax provisions, with the short-term rental chapter functioning as the enforcement hook that ties permit issuance and renewal to tax compliance.