Dothan, AL Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)
Key Facts
- License tax
- $100.00 + 0.5% of gross receipts
- Lodging tax basis
- Sec. 94-146 through 94-150
- Lodging tax treatment
- same as hotels and motels
- Nonpayment consequence
- grounds for license revocation
- Renewal requirement
- proof of prior year's tax paid
Summary
Short-term rental owners in the City of Dothan pay a business license tax of $100.00 plus one-half of one percent of gross receipts under Sec. 18-503, on top of a lodging tax required by Sec. 18-506. That lodging tax is collected under the same Sections 94-146 through 94-150 that apply to hotels and motels, and unpaid lodging tax is grounds for license revocation.
Sec. 18-503. - License tax. The license tax shall be $100.00 plus one-half of one percent of the gross receipts of the preceding license year thereafter. ... ... Sec. 18-506. - Lodging tax. Short-term rentals must remit lodging tax as set forth in sections 94-146 through 94-150 of the Dothan Code of Municipal Ordinances. This tax is in addition to business license tax and all other taxes that apply or may be imposed in the future. Lodging tax remittances are a license requirement and failure to file and remit lodging tax timely is a condition for license revocation.
Full Breakdown
Sec. 18-503 sets the annual license tax for a short-term residential or commercial rental at $100.00 plus one-half of one percent of the gross receipts from the preceding license year, a flat-plus-percentage structure distinct from the standard business license schedule used elsewhere in Chapter 18. Sec. 18-506 layers a second obligation on top: short-term rentals must remit lodging tax as set out in Sections 94-146 through 94-150 of the Dothan Code, the same lodging tax hotels, motels and other transient-lodging businesses collect, recorded and remitted the identical way.
The Code is explicit that this lodging tax applies in addition to the business license tax and any other tax currently imposed or imposed in the future, so paying the Sec. 18-503 license tax does not substitute for lodging tax remittance. Timely lodging-tax filing is not optional bookkeeping; Sec. 18-506 makes it a license requirement, and failing to file and remit on time is an explicit condition for license revocation. Sec. 18-505 reinforces this at renewal: to renew an STRR or STCR license, the owner must show proof of payment of the prior year's lodging taxes, or, if none was owed, a copy of the zero-tax reports filed instead, alongside proof of current property insurance and payment of the business license tax itself. Sec. 18-509 additionally requires a separate license for each rental location and each distinct business activity the owner carries on.
Violations & Fines
Failing to file and remit lodging tax on time is, by the text of Sec. 18-506 itself, a condition for revoking the short-term rental's business license. Sec. 18-507 allows revocation under Sec. 18-19 for that and other article violations, and operating without the underlying business license required by Sec. 18-502 is separately punishable under the general penalty in Sec. 1-4, up to a $500.00 fine and six months' imprisonment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the Dothan short-term rental license tax?
Do Airbnb hosts pay lodging tax in Dothan?
What happens if I don't pay lodging tax on my Dothan rental?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Dothan
How Dothan compares: Cities with the Highest Short-Term Rental Taxes·Compare Dothan to another location·View the Alabama short-term rentals overview
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