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

Tulare Municipal Code Title 5 (Business Licenses and Regulations) requires a city business license for any person 'transacting and carrying on any business' within the city, which by long-standing California practice includes operating a short-term residential rental. Title 3 (Revenue and Finance) is the home for any city Transient Occupancy Tax chapter; the rate and remittance schedule should be confirmed with the City Finance Department at 411 East Kern Ave. For unincorporated Tulare County context (often relied on by Tulare hosts at the county line), the County imposes a 10% TOT on rent for any stay of 30 consecutive calendar days or less, payable quarterly to the Tulare County Treasurer-Tax Collector, with operators required to register and obtain a Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate (Tulare County Code Title 1 Chapter 5 / Tax Collector FAQ). Tulare County's Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on July 9, 2024 (and again rejected revisions in February 2025) against adopting a stand-alone short-term rental ordinance, finding existing nuisance, noise, and TOT ordinances sufficient. Inside the City of Tulare, no equivalent STR-specific code chapter has been adopted as of mid-2026, so hosts default to the general business license, zoning use rules (Title 10), nuisance rules (Tulare Municipal Code § 7.28.030), and the platform-collected state and local taxes Airbnb/Vrbo remit on the host's behalf where agreements exist.