Who has to register on this portal?
Anyone who wants to lease the use or occupancy, in exchange for rent, of all or part of a dwelling unit to provide accommodations to transient guests. This includes people who advertise on a hosting platform . A “hosting platform” is an internet-based entity that in exchange for rent, facilitates reservations and booking transactions of short-term residential rentals, such as Airbnb, HomeAway, or VRBO.
Any property that uses a hosting platform must pay an occupancy tax under Anne Arundel County Code. For more information, see the County Code, Section § 4-6-105. Use or occupancy tax.
From Anne Arundel County Code:
"Short-term rental” means a facility that offers sleeping accommodations to the transient public for rent, including a hotel, motel, inn, bed and breakfast home, bed and breakfast inn, rooming house, as defined in § 18-1-101 of this Code, and short-term residential rentals. For purposes of this definition, “short-term residential rental” means the use or occupancy, facilitated by a hosting platform in exchange for rent, of all or part of a dwelling unit to provide accommodations to transient guests for no more than 120 consecutive days in a calendar year.
Levy and amount of tax. There is an occupancy tax levied on the rent paid for the use of a short-term rental in the County. The rate of the tax is 8% of the rent. The occupancy tax levied under this section shall be considered the hotel tax referred to in § 20-603 of the Local Government Article of the State Code.