Pismo Beach, CA Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Pismo Beach Municipal Code § 17.113.080 ties short-term rental licensing to tax registration. The owner first submits a business license application that identifies the property as a short-term rental or homestay. Once the city determines the property is eligible to be licensed, the owner applies for a TOT/LBID/TMD certificate, and that certificate requires the owner to collect and remit payments to the city on a monthly basis. The code prints this duty in both zoning codes carried under Title 17: at § 17.113.080 in the 1983 Zoning Ordinance and at § 17.09.080 in the 1998 Zoning Code, where only the capitalization differs.

The tax itself sits in Chapter 3.20. Section 3.20.030 charges each transient eleven percent of the rent charged by the operator. A transient is a person occupying for thirty consecutive calendar days or less, and the tax administrator is the finance director unless the council designates another officer (§ 3.20.020). The operator must state the tax separately from the rent, give each transient a receipt, and cannot advertise that the tax will be absorbed (§ 3.20.050). A return is due for every calendar month, whether or not rent was charged or tax collected, and the full tax is remitted when the return is filed (§ 3.20.070). A managing agent who is not an employee is also an operator with the same duties, and compliance by either the owner or the agent counts for both (§ 3.20.020).

The lodging business improvement district in Chapter 3.26 adds a second charge. Section 3.26.070 levied the initial assessment at one percent of gross lodging revenues, collected monthly on the previous month's revenue (§ 3.26.050), and the council reviews the assessments each April (§ 3.26.060). Because of that annual review, the one percent figure is the rate the code prints for the initial levy, not a promise of the current rate. Application and licensing fees for short-term rentals are not set in the zoning chapter: § 17.113.110 leaves them to resolutions of the city council.

Pismo Beach uses two adopted zoning codes. The city's Zoning and Land Use page states that properties inside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1983 Zoning Code, and properties outside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1998 Zoning Code.