Hawaii rentals and tat

[ukpete82]

Hi everyone,

Do I Need a Hawaii TAT ID If I Rent Out My Timeshare Week?
Quick question for the Hawaii experts here:

If I rent out a Hilton / Hawaii timeshare week directly to a guest (ex: through RedWeek, TUG, or private referrals), am I required to have a Hawaii Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) ID and GET license, or does the management company take care of those taxes?





I’ve heard mixed answers:

• Some owners say YES, every owner who collects rental income needs their own TAT + GET.
• Others say NO, because the resort or platform handles the tax.
• Still others say it depends on who is the “operator.”

So for clarity:





If I’m renting my own week and collecting the payment myself, do I personally need to register for a Hawaii TAT + GET number?





Any official links or personal experience would be appreciated.





Thank you!


— Pete

 

[TheHolleys87]

Guests staying at Kona Coast Resort on the Big Island pay the TAT directly to the resort on checkout. It doesn't matter whether they're owners, guests of owners, renters, etc.

I can't say that's the same for other resorts in HI, but it's likely.

Maybe you could contact your resort via email or phone and ask them?

 

[SmithOp]

AI has a good overview, there are several different taxes. Since you live in UK it's unlikely the State of Hawaii is going to come after you for taxes that aren't collected by the resort operators. I've rented privately to friends and family, which is technically the only way you should be using a guest certificate for HGVC stays, and have never bothered with reporting TAT or GET to Hawaii, never had an issue, but I haven't used rental sites that may report it, YMMV.

AI Overview
In Hawaii, TAT stands for Transient Accommodations Tax, which is a statewide tax on short-term rentals (less than 180 days). TOT generally stands for Transient Occupancy Tax (sometimes called Time-Share Occupancy Tax in Hawaii's legal context), which is a similar concept but often refers to local-level or county-specific taxes in Hawaii or other jurisdictions.

Key Distinctions in Hawaii

TAT (Transient Accommodations Tax): This is a state-imposed tax on the gross rental proceeds from furnishing transient accommodations, such as hotel rooms, condos, and vacation rentals. The statewide TAT rate is currently 10.25%, and is set to increase to 11.00% effective January 1, 2026.

TOT (Transient Occupancy Tax/Time-Share Occupancy Tax): In Hawaii, this term is specifically used for the tax on the occupancy of time-share units by owners or exchange guests (referred to as TSO tax in official brochures). In other states, "TOT" is a general term for hotel or occupancy tax.

County Surcharges (also referred to as OTAT, MCTAT, HCTAT, KCTAT): Each of the four counties (O'ahu, Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i) has the authority to impose a surcharge of up to 3% on top of the state TAT. These are essentially "county TATs" and are sometimes informally referred to as TOTs or by their specific county acronyms.


Summary of Taxes on Short-Term Rentals

If you rent a transient accommodation in Hawaii for less than 180 days, you are generally subject to multiple taxes:

GET (General Excise Tax)State (with county surcharge)4% - 4.5% + county surchargeA privilege tax on business activities.

TAT (Transient Accommodations Tax)State10.25% (increasing to 11.00% in 2026)State tax on accommodations.
County

TAT Surcharge (e.g., OTAT, MCTAT)CountyUp to 3%An additional county-level tax.

The total tax on a short-term rental can be up to approximately 17.75% (GET + TAT + County Surcharge).

For further information on Hawaii taxes, please visit the Hawaii Department of Taxation website.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

I’m renting my own week and collecting the payment myself,

Call me lost. WHAT are you collecting? Are you collecting taxes? Won't the resort collect taxes from whomever checks in?
Can I show up at a resort and say "I rented from a friend, so I already paid taxes" and have them say "OK, no tax for you"???

 

[SmithOp]

Call me lost. WHAT are you collecting? Are you collecting taxes? Won't the resort collect taxes from whomever checks in?
Can I show up at a resort and say "I rented from a friend, so I already paid taxes" and have them say "OK, no tax for you"???

Resort collects occupancy taxes. Profit on rentals is supposed to be declared in a non-resident Hawaii State income tax form. He's collecting rental income.

 

[echino]

What the law says and what's happening in real life is very different.

If reading the law strictly, then yes, a timeshare owner renting out a week must register, collect, report and remit various Hawaii taxes. But nobody does that, so the state of Hawaii requires resorts to collect some of those taxes from the guests who check in. So if you follow the law strictly, then some of the taxes will be collected twice, without any mechanism to get them back.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Hawaii requires resorts to collect some of those taxes from the guests who check in. So if you follow the law strictly, then some of the taxes will be collected twice, without any mechanism to get them back.

There you go. That is what it sounded like to me.

 

[DobieG]

Late to this party, but what value is the 11% tax based on? If I’m a long term weeks owner, does Marriott maintain some sort of fair market value list?

 

[dioxide45]

Late to this party, but what value is the 11% tax based on? If I’m a long term weeks owner, does Marriott maintain some sort of fair market value list?

It's based on 50% of the maintenance fee. But Marriott does maintain a list.