Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT)

Visitors are drawn to Tehama by its natural beauty and the region’s access to world class outdoor recreational opportunities. The dollars they bring stimulate commerce, which is vital to the local economy. Balancing the costs and benefits of tourism is essential to the preservation of our communities and our quality of life.  Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) is an important part of that balance. TOT paid by visitors helps fund projects that benefit the County as a whole.

TOT, also known as a “hotel tax,” is authorized under State Revenue and Taxation Code Section 7280. TOT is levied at 8% in the unincorporated Tehama County for the privilege of occupying a room(s) or other living spaces in a hotel, inn, motel, vacation home, house, or other lodging for a period of 30 days or less. TOT is collected by the operator, but the tax is imposed on the guest. 

Effective June 20, 2024, Hoteliers and other hosts/operators are required to obtain a Short-Term Rental (STR) Permit to operate in all unincorporated areas of Tehama County.

Pay TOT/ Register for STR Permit
Voluntary Collection Agreements (VCA)

A voluntary Collection Agreement (VCA) is an agreement where the host platform collections and remits TOT on behalf of their operators.

Tehama County has entered into a VCA with VRBO, so the taxes are being collected and remitted to the county on your behalf.

AirBNB currently will not enter into a VCA with Tehama County, so it is the responsibility of each operator to collect those taxes from guests and remit them quarterly to the County. We are actively pursuing a partnership, but can’t comment on the progress.

Regardless of VCA status, all operators are still required to file quarterly TOT returns online through the county platform. The County uses your returns and supplied reports to confirm that the county is receiving the correct TOT payments from the host platforms. 

VRBO Reporting Instructions

To generate the proper report for VRBO, the client would need to log into their VRBO Owner Account, then:

Payout Summary Report:

  1. Click Reservation Manager.
  2. Click Financial Reporting.
  3. Select the “Payout Summary Report.”
  4. Select the Dates.
  5. Change from “payouts within this date range” to “Stays Within This Date Range.”
  6. Click Refresh.
  7. Click the Download Icon.
  8. The report should open to a spreadsheet, with column Q (Payout currency) as the last column.
  1. Save the report to your desktop for electronic filing, using .XLS, .PDF or .CSV file format.
  2. If you are using Numbers (for Mac), you will need to export to Excel. To export to Excel, click on FILE, then “export to” and select Excel, then save to your desktop.
  3. If you need to print the report, print in Landscapeand scale to fit all to one page.

Lodging Tax Report:

  1. Click Reservation Manager.
  2. Click Financial Reporting.
  3. Select the “Stay Tax Report.”
  4. Select the Dates.
  5. Select “Stays within this date range.”
  6. Click the Download Icon.
  7. The report should open to a spreadsheet, with column S (Your taxes | Local Currency) as the last column.
  1. Save the report to your desktop for electronic filing, using .XLS, .PDF or .CSV file format.
  2. If you are using Numbers (for Mac), you will need to export to Excel. To export to Excel, click on File, then “export to” and select Excel, then save to your desktop.
  3. If you need to print the report, print in Landscape and scale to fit all to one page.

*Please note, TOT should be reported when the stay occurs (check in date), not when the payment is received (payout date). VRBO Downloadable Instructions

AirBnB Reporting Instructions

To generate the AirBnB Gross Earnings Report, the client would need to log into their AirBnB Host Account, then:

  1. Across the top (center to right) of the page, they should see the word “host.”
  1. Click on Host and select “hosting dashboard.”
  2. Left click on the profile photo (top right corner) and select “transaction history.”
  1. There are three tabs, “completed payouts, upcoming payouts and gross earnings.”
  2. Click on the “gross earnings tab” until the green line shows.
  3. Select the dates you want to report, i.e “FROM October 2019 TO October 2019”
  4. Download to CSV:
  1. The report should open to a spreadsheet. If not, at the bottom left of the screen, there should be an up arrow with “Airbnb_tax_…”, click it to open the report;
    OR the file is automatically saved in your downloads folder, so you can always locate it there.
  2. If you are using Numbers (for Mac), you will need to export to Excel. To export to Excel, click on File, then “export to” and select Excel, then save to your desktop.
  3. Print the report in landscape and scale to fit all to one page.
  1. If information in any of the columns is not visible (shows #####), then open the column by double clicking between columns A and B as well as Columns C and D or D and E.
  1. Save the report to your desktop for electronic filing, using .XLS, .PDF or .CSV file format.

*Please note, TOT should be reported when the stay occurs (check in date), not when the payment is received (payout date).

**To Report your Airbnb Gross Earnings, use the total for “Column O – Gross Earnings”. Please do not report using “Column K – Amount”.  AirBnB Downloadable Instructions

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