Kankakee County, IL Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Kankakee County Code § 50-66 defines 'hotel or motel' to expressly include short-term rentals, 'including, but not limited to, Airbnb and VRBO,' alongside traditional inns, tourist homes and lodging houses. That definition pulls every unincorporated-area short-term rental into Article III of Chapter 50, the Hotel and Motel Operators' Occupation Tax Act. Section 50-67 imposes the tax at five percent of gross rental receipts from renting, leasing or letting rooms, and lets the operator pass the tax through to guests as a separately stated charge. Stays by a 'permanent resident,' defined as anyone occupying the same room for at least 30 consecutive days, are excluded from the taxable base.

The tax applies only within the unincorporated county: under Section 50-70, it does not reach a hotel, motel or short-term rental inside a city, village or unincorporated town that already imposes its own hotel tax under 65 ILCS 5/8-3-14. Every operator must keep separate books of taxable rents (Section 50-68) and file a return with the county treasurer by the 20th of each month reporting gross receipts, exclusions, and tax due, then remit payment the same day (Section 50-69). The county treasurer can also demand an annual reconciliation return tied to the operator's state income tax filing. Disputes over the tax are heard in the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit Court.