Sumter County, SC Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Sumter County Code § 36-83 imposes a three percent accommodations fee on rentals to transients, and its definition of covered lodging expressly reaches a residence, meaning a homeowner renting out a house or room can be a covered short-term rental operator subject to the fee, not just a hotel or motel. Subsection (d), however, carves out two exemptions that matter most for short-term rental hosts. First, the fee does not apply to any facility with fewer than six sleeping rooms located on the same premises that is used as an individual's place of abode, meaning a host renting rooms in their own home on a small scale, under six rooms, falls outside the fee even though a larger short-term rental operation would not.

Second, gross proceeds from renting sleeping accommodations to the same guest for 90 or more continuous days are not treated as proceeds from a transient, so a longer-term short-term rental stay is not subject to the accommodations fee at all. Outside those exemptions, a short-term rental host in the unincorporated county owes the same three percent fee, collected from the guest and remitted under § 36-84's monthly, quarterly, or annual schedule depending on collection volume, with reports due the 20th of the following month and a five percent monthly penalty for late remittance.

The county finance director can inspect and audit a host's books to confirm compliance, and false information exposes the host to the added cost of that audit under § 36-87.