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State guide

Georgia Short-Term Rental Laws: State Rules, Taxes, and Local Permits

Georgia STR rules explained with current official sources: statewide duties, local permit boundaries, tax responsibility, failure points, and an address-level action plan.

  • 100+ U.S. cities
  • Official sources
  • Address used only for local rules

Compliance layers

Four Layers to Verify Before Your Georgia Property Goes Live.

State Framework

Understand the statewide rules, tax layer, and authority given to cities and counties.

Local Permit

Match the address to the correct city or town permit, notice, renewal, and operating rules.

Tax Obligations

Check state and local licensing, filing, and marketplace collection responsibilities.

County Records

Verify the separate rental-registration or property-record steps for the relevant county.

Direct answer

Georgia STR rules at a glance

Georgia does not provide one statewide STR operating permit. City or county rules decide land use and local licensing. At the state layer, rental sales are taxable, and the $5-per-night hotel-motel fee applies when the provider is an “innkeeper” under the rule or a qualifying marketplace innkeeper facilitates the booking. Do not assume the $5 fee or platform collection works the same for direct and marketplace reservations.

Local approval
Operating permission is determined by the city or county for the property address.Check zoning, business or occupation tax, STR certificate, and renewal locally before listing.
$5 nightly fee
An innkeeper must charge the state hotel-motel fee for each taxable accommodation night until the stay becomes an extended stay.The current rule defines both innkeeper and marketplace innkeeper; the label matters.
Direct-rental exception nuance
An owner that is neither locally licensed nor required to pay a local business/occupation tax may not be an “innkeeper” for this fee.The rule’s example still requires sales and use tax, so “no $5 fee” does not mean “no state tax.”
Extended stay
The first 30 consecutive days are subject to the fee for a covered rental; collection stops when the stay becomes an extended stay on day 31.A transfer to another facility interrupts the consecutive-occupancy test.

  • State compliance is not address approval

    Use the statewide rules below as the base layer, then verify the exact city, county, parcel, dwelling, and booking channel. A tax account or platform listing does not by itself authorize an STR in Georgia.

    Warning

Local decision rule

Decide which Georgia rules control the address

Georgia’s highest-value distinction is between land-use permission, sales tax, and the state hotel-motel fee. A city’s license or occupation-tax requirement can affect the state fee definition. A qualifying marketplace can become the fee remitter even when an owner-direct transaction would be treated differently. Reconcile the rules by channel, not just by property.

  • Determine local license or occupation-tax status

    That local status can affect whether an owner-direct provider meets the state rule’s innkeeper definition.

    Required

  • Classify each booking channel

    Identify direct reservations, marketplace-innkeeper transactions, payment-only services, and property-manager transactions; responsibility can differ.

    Required

  • Track continuous occupancy by facility

    Do not aggregate separate properties to reach extended-stay treatment. Maintain guest, facility, and day-level records.

    Required

Money and filings

Georgia tax, platform, and recordkeeping split

The rule’s marketplace-innkeeper definition includes a $100,000 facilitated and own taxable-sales threshold in the previous or current calendar year. Use that rule as the starting point for a Georgia booking-channel ledger that names the collector, government destination, return, and closeout evidence.

Marketplace threshold
The rule’s marketplace-innkeeper definition includes a $100,000 facilitated and own taxable-sales threshold in the previous or current calendar year.
Sales-tax base
When separately itemized, the $5 hotel-motel fee is excluded from the sales-tax base under the rule.
Registration destination
Covered providers register the state hotel-motel fee account through Georgia Tax Center using the DOR workflow.

Failure conditions

Mistakes that can invalidate a Georgia STR plan

Use the rule’s innkeeper and marketplace-innkeeper definitions, local license status, booking channel, and exemptions instead of applying a universal shortcut. The additional Georgia failure conditions below also change eligibility, the responsible filer, the amount due, or the evidence needed to defend the operation.

  • Charging the $5 fee without testing the definition

    Use the rule’s innkeeper and marketplace-innkeeper definitions, local license status, booking channel, and exemptions instead of applying a universal shortcut.

    Required

  • Treating marketplace remittance as universal

    The marketplace rule applies to qualifying facilitators and facilitated transactions. Direct bookings remain a separate sales-tax and fee analysis.

    Required

  • Refunding the first 30 days after a stay extends

    The current extended-stay rule keeps the first 30 days subject to the fee for a covered rental and stops collection starting with day 31.

    Required

Address-specific rules

Georgia city and county STR guides

Statewide Georgia rules cannot decide the local permit for a parcel. After confirming the property is inside the named jurisdiction, use its guide for the applicable zoning, documents, fees, renewal, and enforcement path.

Atlanta Short-Term Rental Laws

Atlanta Short-Term Rental License, zoning, documents, taxes, operating rules, and renewal.

Savannah Short-Term Rental Laws

Savannah STVR Certificate, zoning, documents, taxes, operating rules, and renewal.

Tybee Island Short-Term Rental Laws

Tybee Island STR Certificate, zoning, documents, taxes, operating rules, and renewal.

Athens-Clarke County Short-Term Rental Laws

Athens-Clarke County STR Approval, zoning, documents, taxes, operating rules, and renewal.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Not under a one-line rule. The fee applies to accommodations furnished by an “innkeeper,” including a qualifying marketplace innkeeper. The official rule gives an owner-direct example where the fee does not apply but sales tax still does.

For a covered accommodation, the first 30 days remain subject to the fee; once continuous occupancy at the facility reaches day 31, no further state hotel-motel fee is collected.

The official state sources reviewed establish tax and fee duties, not a single statewide operating permit. The city or county controls local authorization.

Georgia DOR directs covered businesses to register the account through Georgia Tax Center.