Who collected Nebraska sales and lodging taxes on short-term rentals, and what charges entered each tax base?

Plain-English summary

A multivendor marketplace platform had to license, collect, and remit Nebraska sales and lodging taxes on short-term rentals it facilitated. The hotel or tourist-home owner remained responsible for rentals not facilitated by the platform.

If the platform reported and remitted the taxes, the owner was relieved of collection on that facilitated sale.

What entered the tax base

For sales tax, the base was the guest's total consideration, including charges imposed by the owner, another lodging retailer, or the marketplace platform that were necessary to complete the sale. A municipal occupation tax also entered the base.

Lodging tax generally used the same total consideration. It excluded separately stated charges for food or beverages and personal services rendered to the guest.

Prepared food, tangible-personal-property rentals, and other products could still be subject to sales tax even when outside the lodging-tax base.

Properties and stays covered

The GIL addressed accommodations furnished for less than 30 days. Its hotel definition included hotels, motels, tourist homes, private homes rented in whole or part, campgrounds, RV pads or hookups, lodging houses, and inns.

It excluded qualifying licensed healthcare facilities and student housing regularly operated by specified public or educational institutions.

Common questions

Q: Did an owner collect tax on a platform-facilitated booking?

A: Not when the platform had reported and remitted the sales and lodging taxes to the Department.

Q: Who collected tax on a direct booking?

A: The hotel or tourist-home owner.

Q: Did platform fees enter the tax base?

A: Charges imposed by the marketplace retailer and necessary to complete the sale entered the total consideration described by the GIL.

Q: Were separately stated meals subject to lodging tax?

A: No, but prepared-food sales could still be subject to sales tax.

Citations and references

• Laws 2019, LB 284 — marketplace-platform collection responsibilities
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 77-2701.07 through 77-2701.36 provisions cited in the GIL — retailer, marketplace, short-term-rental, and sales-price definitions
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 81-3702, 81-3706, 81-3707, 81-3709, and 81-3722 — Nebraska lodging tax
• Nebraska Sales and Use Tax Regulations 1-004.02C, 1-090.02, and 1-092
• Nebraska GIL 1-19-1 — short-term-rental licensing, collection, and tax base

Source

• Landing page: https://revenue.nebraska.gov/about/legal-information/general-information-letters-gils
• Original PDF: https://revenue.nebraska.gov/sites/revenue.nebraska.gov/files/doc/GIL01-19-01_Short-term_Rental.pdf

Original ruling text

GIL 1-19-1 Short-term Rental Licensing, Filing, Tax Base, and Collection
Responsibilities for Lodging and Sales Taxes
This guidance document is advisory in nature but is binding on the Nebraska Department of Revenue (DOR)
until amended. A guidance document does not include internal procedural documents that only affect the internal
operations of DOR and does not impose additional requirements or penalties on regulated parties or include
confidential information or rules and regulations made in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. If
you believe that this guidance document imposes additional requirements or penalties on regulated parties, you
may request a review of the document.
This guidance document may change with updated information or added examples. DOR recommends you do
not print this document. Instead, sign up for the subscription service at revenue.nebraska.gov to get updates on
your topics of interest.

                                    August 22, 2019

Dear XXXX,
You have asked what is the proper tax base for lodging and sales taxes imposed on short-term rentals of
lodging (rentals for less than 30 days). Because of the nature of the question asked and the recent passage
of LB 284 (2019), which addresses sales and use tax collection for remote sellers and multivendor
marketplace platforms (MMPs), we are providing this General Information Letter (GIL) in response.
GILs address general questions; provide analysis of issues; and direct taxpayers to the Nebraska statutes,
Nebraska Department of Revenue (DOR) regulations, revenue rulings, or other sources of information
to help respond to a question. A GIL is a statement of current DOR policy, and taxpayers may rely on
DOR to follow the principles or procedures described in a GIL until it is rescinded or superseded. You
may also find current regulations, revenue rulings, information guides, taxpayer rulings, and other GILs
that may be helpful to you at revenue.nebraska.gov.
LB 284 expanded the collection and filing responsibilities for sales tax and lodging tax collection
on short-term rentals to include MMPs, also known as marketplace facilitators, that facilitate shortterm rentals. Facilitating a sale includes acting as an intermediary between a seller and a purchaser, or
engaging directly or indirectly in an offer or acceptance between a seller of short-term rentals and a
purchaser. Effective April 1, 2019, MMPs facilitating short-term rentals must obtain sales and lodging
tax licenses and begin collecting and remitting these taxes on sales they facilitate. The MMP is to
complete and submit the MMP Lodging Tax Worksheet - Breakdown by County with the Nebraska and
County Lodging Tax Return, Form 64, to report the lodging tax by each county for sales they facilitated
in Nebraska.
Hotel or tourist home owners are relieved of the duty to collect and remit the sales and lodging taxes on
sales facilitated by the MMP if the MMP has reported and remitted these taxes to DOR. However, hotel
and tourist home owners of short-term rental properties are required to collect and remit the sales and
lodging taxes on sales that are not facilitated by an MMP.
Prior to passage of LB 284, a separate law, LB 57, pertaining to licensing of short-term rentals was
signed into law. That law included a provision allowing DOR to enter into an agreement with an
MMP to waive the tax collection responsibility of a hotel or tourist home owner. Since LB 284 now
requires MMPs to collect and remit sales and lodging taxes to the state, DOR will not enter into separate
agreements with MMPs.

GIL 1-19-1

Page 2 of 3

Tax Base for Short-term Rentals of Lodging
The sales tax base for short-term rentals of lodging is the total consideration paid by the guest
whether paid directly to the hotel or tourist home owner or any other retailer of lodging and
includes any charges imposed by the retailer whether the transaction is completed by the hotel,
tourist home owner, or MMP. The tax base for lodging tax is also the total consideration paid
by the guest, whether paid directly to the hotel or tourist home owner or any other retailer and
includes any charges imposed by the retailer whether the transaction is completed by the hotel,
tourist home owner, or MMP, but does not include charges for food or beverages, or any personal
services rendered to the guest.
The Nebraska Visitors Development Act establishes a lodging tax as a mechanism to fund
promotional activities to attract visitors and improvement projects that facilitate growth in Nebraska
tourism. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3702. This tax is similar to the sales tax imposed in the Nebraska
Revenue Act and is “interpreted, collected, remitted, and enforced by the Tax Commissioner under
the provisions” contained therein. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3722. The tax base for short-term rentals
of lodging is consistent between the sales tax and lodging tax because of this incorporation of the
sales tax provisions in the Nebraska Visitors Development Act.
Hotel means any commercial, nonprofit, privately-owned, or publicly owned property in which
the public may obtain sleeping accommodations for less than 30 days for a consideration. This
includes any hotel, motel, tourist home, private home that is rented out in whole or in part for all or
part of the year, campground, RV pad or hookup, lodging house, or inn. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3707.
It does not include any licensed healthcare facility that is exempt from sales tax under Nebraska
Sales and Use Regulation 1-090.02, or any dormitory or facility regularly used to house students
which is operated by a public institution or educational institution as identified in Reg-1-092,
Educational Institutions.
Tourist home is defined by Dictionary.com as “a private home with rooms for rent, usually for
one night, to tourists, travelers, etc.” and by Merriam-Webster as “a house in which rooms are
available for rent to transients.”
Hotel Owner means any person that owns a hotel, including a tourist home.
Short-term rental means renting or furnishing for periods of less than 30 days any room or rooms,
lodgings, or accommodations in any hotel. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2701.33.
The tax base for a short-term rental under the provisions of the Nebraska sales tax, and by reference,
the lodging tax also, is the total consideration paid by the consumer, in this case the guest, to the
retailer or seller of property or services (including an MMP) valued in money, whether received
in money or otherwise. Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 77-2701.16, 77-2701.33, 77-2701.35, 81-3707, and
81-3709. The tax base includes any charges imposed by the retailer (including an MMP) that are
necessary to complete the sale and any local occupation tax imposed by a municipality.

GIL 1-19-1

Page 3 of 3

As defined in the Nebraska Revenue Act, a retailer or seller of lodging includes any person who,
directly or indirectly, rents or leases property for a profit or gain when the transaction is subject to
the sales tax, including sales facilitated by an MMP. Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 77-2701.07, 77-2701.13,
77-2701.16, 77-2701.32 and 77-2701.36; see also Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 77-2701.25 and 77-2701.31,
and Nebraska Sales and Use Tax Regulations 1-004.02C. The broad language of the statutes
demonstrates that the tax applies not only to the receipts of the hotel or tourist home owner, but
also to the receipts of the MMP. A travel agent who does not publish the room availability and
rates on behalf of the hotel or tourist home owner is generally not an MMP.
In summary, the tax base for accommodations under the Nebraska sales tax and lodging tax is
the total consideration paid by the guest regardless of whether the hotel or tourist home owner
or MMP, secures the reservation or collects the consideration from the guest. Separately-stated
charges for food or beverages, or any personal services rendered to the guest are not included in the
total consideration paid for accommodations for lodging tax purposes. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3706.
Sales of prepared food, rentals of tangible personal property, and other products may be subject to
sales tax, but not lodging tax.
For the Tax Commissioner

                    George Kilpatrick
                    Manager, Policy Section
                    Nebraska Department of Revenue