Marin County, CA Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

The tax applies because the code defines "hotel" broadly enough to sweep in short-term rentals: any structure or portion of one intended for transient dwelling, lodging or sleeping, including "any place advertised by any person that rents rooms by day, week or month to the public" (§3.05.020(b)). A narrow carve-out exists for a genuinely occasional, non-advertised single-family or apartment rental that is not required to be licensed as a motel or hotel; that kind of one-off stay falls outside the tax. Anyone who does operate a taxable short-term rental must register with the tax collector within 60 days of the ordinance's effective date or 30 days of starting business, whichever is later, and post a Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate on the premises (§3.05.060).

Hosts must state the tax separately from the rent on every guest receipt and are barred from advertising that they will absorb or refund the tax themselves (§3.05.050). Returns and full remittance are due on or before the last day of the month following the close of each calendar quarter, though the tax collector can require shorter reporting periods, and all tax collected is held in trust for the county until paid over (§3.05.070). A narrow exemption also covers occupants as to whom the county lacks legal power to tax, and certain foreign government officials who file a sworn claim at the time rent is collected (§3.05.040).