CLARKSVILLE, Tenn – (CLARKSVILLENOW) Visitors opting to stay in alternatives to hotels will still be required to pay hotel/motel tax in Montgomery County. Popular sites like AirBNB and Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO) will be required by the Montgomery County Trustee’s Office to make occupancy tax payments.

Kimberly Wiggins recently addressed Clarksville’s City Council concerning the collection of property taxes as well as the hotel/motel occupancy tax.

AirBNB and VRBO allow residents to rent their home or property through their website to visitors at a rate of their choosing. The owners, or ‘hosts,’ behave in a similar fashion to a bed and breakfast or hotelier renting a room. The same is true for RV parks, who fall under the same expectation for collecting hotel/motel tax.

According to Wiggins, these hosts are all subject to collecting sales tax as well as the hotel/motel tax.

“When we did our initial search [Montgomery County had] almost 300 [hosts],” said Wiggins in reference to AirBNB and VRBO listings. “Then you start to drill down, how many of those are really active? Active we have a little over 100 hosts in our community.”

The difference in total listings vs active listings is due in part to the 2016 Solar Eclipse, which saw a huge spike in people renting homes and property for the natural phenomenon.

The Trustee’s office has not collected the hotel/motel tax from these rental properties in the past. But Wiggins says it has become one of her top priorities. After being unable to get a response from AirBNB, the Trustee’s office plans to reach out to the hosts in the county who are collecting the tax and reporting it to the Trustee’s office.

Wiggins said her office is making sure those who are part of AirBNB and VRBO in the county are compliant. She added the homeowner does not pay the tax, instead they just collect it on behalf of the Trustee’s office.

The Office of the Trustee is primarily responsible for overseeing the collection of local property taxes and serves as the county’s “banker,” keeping accurate records of receivables and expenditures, investing county idle funds and paying certain bills.

For more on the Montgomery County Trustee’s office go to www.mcgtn.org/trustee or call 931-648-5717.