Farmington Hills, MI Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Short-term rentals in Farmington Hills sit inside Michigan's state-level Use Tax framework with no local stacking. The Michigan Use Tax (MCL 205.92 and following) imposes a 6% tax on the rental of rooms or lodging furnished by hotels, motels, tourist homes, tourist camps, lodging houses, apartment hotels, public lodging houses, summer resorts, and similar accommodations for periods of less than 30 continuous days to the same person. The Michigan Department of Treasury construes this language to include vacation rentals booked through Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and other platforms, as well as direct rentals of residential dwellings used as short-term lodging. The tax applies to the full gross receipt including cleaning fees, pet fees, and guest service fees that are conditions of the rental. Stays of 30 or more continuous days to the same person are exempt. Operators must register with the Michigan Department of Treasury (via Michigan Treasury Online or paper Form 518), collect the tax from guests, and remit monthly or quarterly depending on the operator's tax liability volume. Unlike many Michigan counties that operate under enabling legislation permitting a county-level Accommodation Excise Tax (Washtenaw County 5%, Kent County 5%, several U.P. counties), Oakland County does NOT impose a county-level lodging or accommodations excise tax. Lodging operators within Oakland County (including Farmington Hills) remit only the 6% state Use Tax via Michigan Treasury Online or directly to the Michigan Department of Treasury. The Town of Farmington Hills also does not levy a separate municipal occupancy tax under home rule authority. The combined effective lodging tax burden on a Farmington Hills STR stay is therefore 6% - among the lowest combined lodging tax burdens in the Detroit metro area, contrasting with markets like Grand Rapids/Kent County (11% combined) or Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County (11% combined). Operators do, however, pay non-tax city fees tied to the rental registration regime: the initial rental registration application fee, the property maintenance inspection fee, and the renewal/reinspection fee at each 3-year Certificate of Compliance renewal. Operators should contact the Farmington Hills Building Division at (248) 871-2450 or code.enforcement@fhgov.com for current fee schedules, which are published in the city's annual fee resolution. Airbnb has had a Michigan tax-collection agreement since 2017 under which Airbnb collects and remits the 6% Michigan Use Tax on platform-booked stays statewide; VRBO has a similar arrangement. Operators should verify their platform's current tax-collection status by reviewing the platform's tax-collection support article and their account's tax-collection settings for Farmington Hills bookings. Off-platform direct bookings (operator's own website, referral, or repeat-guest direct booking) are not covered by platform tax-collection agreements; the operator must register with the Michigan Department of Treasury, collect the 6% Use Tax, and remit it manually. Michigan does not impose a separate state sales tax on the same accommodations - the 6% Use Tax is the single state lodging tax. Federal income tax obligations on STR income apply separately.