Texas Sales Tax on Airbnb Host Fees: The 19.50% Markup

On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Texas Comptroller Don Huffines signed an executive order directing his office to stop treating marketplace and platform fees as taxable data processing services. His news release lists short-term lodging among the affected categories. For a Texas host, the fee in question is the Airbnb service fee, and the sales tax on it is a charge many hosts have never noticed.

The order repeals nothing on its own. It starts a rulemaking, and the current rule stays in force until an amended one is adopted. While the tax remains, it also changes the repricing math. The 18.34% increase that covers Airbnb's 15.5% host fee in other states does not cover it in Texas.

Key facts

• On September 30, 2026, the Texas Comptroller ordered a proposed amendment to Rule 3.330 that would remove marketplace and platform fees, including short-term lodging platform fees, from taxable data processing services, according to the Comptroller's release.
• Under the rule as amended in 2025, marketplace provider services became taxable as data processing in Texas beginning October 1, 2025, according to Grant Thornton's summary of the rule.
• Texas exempts 20% of a data processing charge and taxes the rest at 6.25% state plus up to 2% local, a maximum combined rate of 8.25%, per the Comptroller's taxable services guide and sales tax page.
• A Texas host needs a price increase of about 19.50% to 19.79% to hold net income under Airbnb's 15.5% fee plus the tax, compared with 18.34% where no such tax applies. The arithmetic is shown below.
• As of the October 2, 2026 issue of the Texas Register, no proposed amendment had been published, and the 30 day comment period does not begin until one is.

What Texas has taxed since October 1, 2025

Texas taxes data processing as a service, and the Comptroller's office defines it broadly: using a computer for data entry, compilation, storage or manipulation is a taxable data processing service, and 20% of the charge is exempt.

In 2025 the Comptroller's office extended that tax to platforms. The amended Rule 3.330 was published in the Texas Register on March 28, 2025 and took effect April 2, 2025, and it provides that marketplace provider services may be included in taxable data processing beginning October 1, 2025. A marketplace provider service is what a platform sells to the people who list on it: the rule's own illustration is a provider that stores listings and photographs, maintains transaction records, and compiles analytics, which is a fair description of what a host buys from Airbnb.

Airbnb's help center confirms the charge. Its Texas tax page lists "6.25% state sales tax and various local sales taxes up to 2.0% on Airbnb service fees, a portion of which are treated as taxable data processing." The page does not say what portion, and it does not say when Airbnb began charging it. The first month the line appears on your own earnings report is the only reliable start date for your account.

This is a different tax from hotel occupancy tax. Airbnb has collected the 6% state hotel occupancy tax on Texas stays since May 1, 2017, and that tax is charged on the guest's booking. The sales tax discussed here is charged on the platform's fee. Since the September 15, 2026 switch to the 15.5% host fee, that fee is deducted entirely from the host's payout, which puts the tax on it in the host's column too.

What the tax costs on a $1,000 booking

The only published host side calculation comes from the Short Term Rental Association of San Antonio. In an August 25, 2026 post, the association reported that Airbnb treats 80% of its service fee as data processing and that Texas then taxes 80% of that amount, so the taxable base is 64% of the fee (0.80 x 0.80). That is a trade association's account, and Airbnb has not published the percentage.

On a $1,000 booking at the 8.25% maximum rate, the association's version works out like this:

• Airbnb fee: $1,000 x 15.5% = $155.00
• Taxable share: $155.00 x 64% = $99.20
• Sales tax: $99.20 x 8.25% = $8.18
• Total deducted: $163.18, or 16.32% of the booking

If a platform applied only the statutory 20% exemption, the base would be 80% of the fee: $124.00 taxable, $10.23 of tax, and $165.23 deducted, or 16.52% of the booking.

Neither figure is large on a single stay. On $50,000 of Airbnb bookings, a full year of the tax costs $409.20 on the 64% base ($50,000 x 15.5% x 64% x 8.25%) and $511.50 on the 80% base. Hosts in areas with a lower local rate pay less.

Why 18.34% falls short in Texas

Covering a percentage fee requires dividing, not adding. A host who wants to net the same amount after a 15.5% fee has to divide the old price by 0.845, which is an increase of 18.34% (1 / 0.845 = 1.1834). That figure anchors our September 15 repricing checklist, and it is correct wherever the fee is the only deduction.

In Texas the deduction is larger, so the divisor is smaller:

• 64% base at 8.25%: 1 / (1 - 0.16318) = 1.1950, a 19.50% increase
• 80% base at 8.25%: 1 / (1 - 0.16523) = 1.1979, a 19.79% increase

A Texas host who raised a $1,000 booking to $1,183.40 on September 15 now nets about $990.29 on the 64% base: $1,183.40 less a $183.43 fee and $9.68 of tax. The shortfall is $9.71 per booking. Closing it takes a list price of $1,195.00.

The gap between 18.34% and 19.50% is 1.16 points of list price. If the amended rule is adopted, that gap disappears and 18.34% becomes the right number in Texas again.

What the September 30 order does and does not do

The order directs the Comptroller's office to propose an amendment. According to the release, the proposal "will be filed with the Texas Secretary of State and published in the Texas Register, followed by a 30-day public comment period." It gives no effective date.

Tax counsel read it the same way. Eversheds Sutherland's analysis on Inside SALT states that the executive order does not immediately amend Rule 3.330.

The October 2, 2026 issue (Volume 51, Number 40) of the Texas Register contains no proposed rule from the Comptroller on Rule 3.330.

State law sets the minimum pace after that. An agency must give at least 30 days' notice before adopting a rule, and an adopted rule generally takes effect 20 days after it is filed with the Secretary of State, unless the rule sets a later date or qualifies for a narrow expedited exception. As an illustration only: a proposal published on October 9, 2026 could not be adopted before November 8, and on the standard schedule would not take effect before late November. The tax line stays on Texas payouts until then at the earliest.

Will hosts get refunds?

Nobody has said so. The Comptroller's release does not mention refunds, and the discussion that exists is addressed to the platforms. Eversheds Sutherland notes that claims for Texas sales tax overpayments "generally must be made within the later of four years from the date the tax was due and payable or six months after a deficiency determination becomes final," and that a marketplace provider that paid tax on its fees "may have a refund claim opportunity." Whether a host who bore the tax through a platform's deduction would see any of that money is an open question.

Keep the records regardless. Download the earnings reports that show the tax line for every month it appears, so the amounts are documented if a refund path ever opens.

What Texas hosts should do now

1. Open a recent Airbnb earnings report for a Texas listing and find the sales tax charged on the service fee.
2. Work out your own taxable share. Divide the tax by the service fee, then divide the result by your local combined sales tax rate. An answer near 0.64 matches the San Antonio association's report; an answer near 0.80 means the plain statutory base.
3. Decide whether the remaining 1.16 points justify a second price change that may need reversing within months.
4. Do not lower prices on the strength of the headline. Nothing has changed on payouts yet.
5. Comment once the proposal is published. The release says Texans can submit comments to the Comptroller's office during the 30 day window.

Vrbo's 12% commission arrives October 29

Vrbo is moving hosts to a flat 12% commission starting October 29, 2026, up from 5% for software connected managers and 8% for other hosts, Skift reported on September 29. A larger fee is a larger taxable base for as long as the Texas rule stands.

We have not seen how Vrbo computes the tax, and platforms may not tax the same portion of their fees. As arithmetic on the published rule only: a 12% commission taxed on an 80% base at 8.25% would add 0.79% of the booking (0.12 x 0.80 x 0.0825), lifting the markup needed to hold net from 13.64% to 14.67%. Check a Vrbo statement before relying on it, and see Vrbo and Airbnb host fees compared for the wider picture.

What to watch next

Four dates will show where this stands: the Texas Register issue that carries the proposal, the comment deadline 30 days later, the adoption notice, and the effective date in that notice.

Airbnb's Texas tax page still lists the sales tax on service fees as of October 2, 2026. When that sentence changes, the earnings report should follow.

Where direct bookings fit

A direct booking involves no marketplace fee, so this tax never attached to it. The obligations run the other way: the Comptroller's office states that hosts are still required to collect and remit hotel occupancy tax on bookings made outside Airbnb. Our guide to lodging tax exemptions for small hosts covers how those rules vary by jurisdiction.

Haven builds branded direct booking websites for short term rental hosts and charges no booking commission. For a Texas host, bookings that come direct carry neither the platform fee nor the tax layered on it, though lodging tax compliance stays with the host.

Frequently asked questions

Is Texas still charging sales tax on Airbnb host fees?

Yes, as of October 2, 2026. The Comptroller's September 30, 2026 order begins a rulemaking to remove marketplace fees from taxable data processing, but the existing Rule 3.330 remains in effect until an amended rule is adopted. Airbnb's Texas tax page still lists state and local sales tax on its service fees.

When will the tax on Airbnb and Vrbo fees end in Texas?

No date has been set. The proposed amendment must be published in the Texas Register and held open for a 30 day comment period before adoption, and it had not been published as of the October 2, 2026 issue. State law then generally adds 20 days between filing an adopted rule and its effective date.

How much should a Texas host raise prices to cover the 15.5% fee and the tax?

About 19.50% if Airbnb taxes 64% of its fee at the 8.25% maximum rate, as one Texas host association reports, or 19.79% on an 80% base. That tax is $8.18 or $10.23 on a $1,000 booking. The 18.34% figure used elsewhere covers the fee alone. If Texas adopts the amended rule, 18.34% becomes correct again.

Does the order change Texas hotel occupancy tax?

No. Hotel occupancy tax is a separate tax on the guest's stay, and the order addresses only sales tax on platform fees. Airbnb continues to collect the 6% state hotel occupancy tax, and hosts may still be responsible for local hotel occupancy taxes.