Sandoval County, NM Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

The county's Lodger's Tax Ordinance folds short-term rentals directly into its tax base. Section 36-96 defines a 'short term rental provider' as anyone who facilitates the rental of lodging by advertising it through a website, booking platform, catalog, or broadcast, and by collecting the guest's payment and transmitting it to the host. That definition is then added to the ordinance's list of 'taxable premises,' alongside hotels, motels, guest houses, cabins, RV parks and mobile homes (§ 36-96). Because a short-term rental is a taxable premises, its operator is a 'vendor' subject to § 36-98's five percent occupancy tax on gross taxable rent, collected outside the incorporated limits of the county's cities and towns.

Section 36-99 requires that vendor to obtain a license from the county clerk before renting, submitting an application listing the owner's name, the property's rooms and rate schedule, and any other information the clerk needs to confirm the rental is taxable; the clerk must approve or deny within ten days, and a denial can be appealed in writing to the county commission within 15 days. Licensed STR operators must collect the tax from guests as trustees for the county, remit it monthly with the county lodger's tax report, and keep rental records open to inspection for three years (§§ 36-101, 36-102). The same 30-day permanent-residency and under-$2-a-day exemptions in § 36-100 apply to short-term rental bookings as they do to hotels.