Filing and Remittance

Pursuant to Chapter 351 of the Texas Tax Code, the City of Houston imposes a 7 percent Hotel Occupancy Tax. Effective July 1, 2011, the City of Houston named Houston First Corporation, a local government corporation, to act as its official collection agent of the municipal Hotel Occupancy Tax. Click here to see official notice letter.

Reporting Requirements

The tax must be reported and remitted by any individual or entity owning, operating, managing or controlling a hotel within the corporate limits of the City of Houston. The term “hotel” includes motels, tourist homes, tourist courts, lodging houses, boarding houses, inns, rooming houses, or other buildings where rooms are provided for consideration of $2 or more per day.

If you own or represent a newly constructed hotel, please send your request for a City of Houston tax ID number to our tax office at hoteltax@houstonfirst.com . You must also complete a registration form as part of this request process.

If you have bought an existing Houston hotel, please notify our tax office by completing our registration form.

Persons leasing their houses, or rooms in their house, must collect the tax from their customers in the same way a hotel or motel collects the tax from its guests. Property management companies, online travel companies and other third-party rental companies may also be responsible for collecting the tax.

Quarterly Due Dates

Reports and payments are due quarterly and must be received or postmarked by the last day of the month following the appropriate quarter:

Failure to file a report or pay the amount of tax by deadline will result in an assessment of interest of the rate of 10 percent per annum and, for amounts past due at least one municipal fiscal quarter, a 15 percent penalty. In general, the priority order to apply a tax payment is penalty, interest and then tax.

If a lawsuit is filed to collect unpaid taxes, a temporary injunction may be granted to prevent the delinquent hotel from being operated until the past due amount is paid in full.

Forms Of Payment

Online Payment is available only during the collection time. All taxes due must be mailed to the address below. Payment may be made by check, money order or cashier’s check. All payments must be made payable to the City of Houston.

City of Houston hotel occupancy report form

Mailing Addresses

Reports, Payments and General Correspondence
Houston First Corporation
Hotel Occupancy Taxes
701 Avenida de las Americas, Suite 200
Houston, TX 77010