Hotel/Motel Room Tax

Hotels and motels located inside the boundary of St. Louis City, according to state law, must pay a room tax on the room sales for each calendar quarter. The tax is 3.5% for the Convention and Sports Tax and 3.75% for the Convention and Tourism Tax. Both taxes are remitted to the License Collector for the City of St. Louis. The 3.5% tax is used to pay for convention facilities at America’s Center.   The 3.75% tax is sent to the Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) for its use to advertise and attract people and conventions to St. Louis.  The CVC remits 4/15 of the tax to the Regional Arts Commission for its use to assist in the attraction of tourists through the development of cultural assets.  

These taxes apply to all temporary lodging facilities  in St. Louis City* including hotels and motels, bed and breakfast operations, transient home rentals through online providers like AirBnb and similar room rentals.    (* In St. Louis County, these taxes are collected by the License Division of the St. Louis County Department of Revenue.) The 3.5% tax is authorized by Section 67.657, RSMo, and the 3.75% tax is authorized by Section 67.619, RSMo.

These taxes are payable on a quarterly basis, and are due 20 days after the end of each calendar quarter. Taxes which are not paid within 30 days of the end of a calendar quarter are subject to interest at the rate of 2% per month and a penalty of 1% per month.

For more information and filing forms, please contact the St. Louis City License Collector’s office at (314) 622-4528. To ensure proper crediting of your account, please use forms provided by the office to pay the tax.

There are two ways a guest can qualify for exemption from the tax. 

• Guests must have stayed at the motel/hotel for more than 31 days (in the calendar quarter).
• Guests who are part of the Federal Government and residing on official business are exempt. Such guests must have supportive documentation stating that they work for the Federal Government.

Eligible federal entities are the military, military personnel, Amtrak, the American Red Cross, and the railroad industry. 

Example

Taxes are filed by Calendar Quarter

Quarter Month Span

• 1st Quarter January 1st - March 31st
• 2st Quarter  April 1st - June 30th
• 3rd Quarter July 1st - September 30th
• 4th Quarter October 1st - December 31st

If a guest checked in on February 3rd and did not check out until April 29th, this person was a guest for 56 days in the 1st quarter and qualifies for exemption but was only a guest for 29 days in the 2nd quarter and is therefore ineligible and must pay this tax for 29 days.

If a guest checked in on July 1st and checked out July 31st, this guest does not qualify for exemption because he or she stayed for only 31 days.

If a guest checked in on October 1st and checked out in December, this guest qualifies for 4th quarter exemptions for all days stayed in the 4th quarter.

If you have any questions when filing exemptions, please feel free to contact the License Collector’s office at (314) 622-4528.

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