Branson STR rules

Short-term rental taxes: Branson tourism tax, Missouri sales tax and Airbnb

Most Branson-area short-term rentals owe Missouri sales tax on every stay. Inside Branson city limits you also owe the city’s 4% tourism tax, which the city says Airbnb and VRBO can’t pay for you. Hollister and part of Stone County charge their own lodging taxes.

Last checked . This is general info, not legal or tax advice, and rules change. Check with Missouri Department of Revenue, Business Registration FAQs before you rely on it.

What taxes does a Branson short-term rental pay?

Missouri sales tax, everywhere. Nightly rentals of homes, condos and cabins open to the public are taxable, and so are cleaning and service fees. Stays booked for 31 days or more are exempt (Missouri DOR, Vacation Home Rentals).

Inside Branson, add the 4% tourism tax. You file it through Citizenserve by the 20th, and the city says no platform is authorized to remit it for you (City of Branson, Tourism Tax & Bond).

Inside Hollister, it’s a 5% tourism tax paid to the City Clerk (Hollister Code Ch. 140 Art. VIII).

In parts of Stone County, voters approved a 3% tax on hotels, motels and short-term rentals in April 2025 (ballot, certified results).

Missouri sales tax on nightly rentals

Missouri’s 4% state sales tax covers charges for rooms at any place where rooms are “regularly served to the public” (RSMo §144.020.1(6)). The place itself remits the tax on those room charges (RSMo §144.018). Local sales taxes go on top of that.

The Department of Revenue has a chart for vacation rentals (DOR Vacation Home Rentals, rev. 03-28-2025):

ChargeMissouri sales taxSource
Nightly rental of a home, condo or cabin available to the publicTaxableDOR chart
The same rental when the guest contracts for 31 days or moreExemptDOR chart
Cleaning feesTaxableDOR chart
Service feesTaxableDOR chart
Internet accessExemptDOR chart

Getting the sales tax license

Get it before your first booking. DOR says you need a Missouri retail sales tax license before you make sales. Selling without one costs $500 for the first day and $100 a day after that, up to $10,000 (DOR Business Registration FAQs). You can register online through MyTax Missouri. Branson, Hollister, Reeds Spring, Taney County and Stone County all want this license or its number before they’ll issue their own permits.

Does Airbnb or VRBO collect it for me?

Not the Branson tourism tax. The city says “there is no third-party platform authorized to remit tourism tax payments to the City of Branson on your behalf (i.e. AirBnB, VRBO, etc.)” (City of Branson).

For Missouri sales tax, we couldn’t confirm it on an official page. Airbnb’s own help page says it collects and remits Missouri state and some local taxes on qualifying stays (Airbnb Help Center). That’s Airbnb’s own claim. We found no Department of Revenue page saying booking platforms collect lodging sales tax for hosts. Missouri’s marketplace facilitator law is about use tax on sales delivered into the state. It excludes anyone providing “travel agency services,” and the statute’s definition of those includes facilitating lodging reservations (RSMo §144.752). DOR’s marketplace FAQ only talks about goods sold into Missouri (DOR marketplace facilitator FAQs).

Keep your own sales tax license either way. Find out what each platform actually remits for your listing, then file for whatever it doesn’t cover. That includes direct bookings. Not sure? Ask the Department of Revenue or a tax preparer.

How Branson’s 4% tourism tax works

WhatThe ruleSource
Rate4% of the price charged to transient guests, on top of sales tax.§82-93, city tax page
Who counts as a transient guestAnyone staying 30 consecutive days or less.§82-92
Due dateThe 20th. If the 20th falls on a weekend or city holiday, it moves to the next workday. The city’s page says payments are due by the 20th of each month through Citizenserve. The code says businesses that estimate or average $7,200 or less a year in tourism tax file quarterly, by the 20th of the month after each quarter. Everyone else files monthly.§82-92, §82-97(a), city tax page
License and state numberYou need a current city business license and a state retail sales license number to file.§82-96
Deposit (bond)A one-time deposit of one month’s estimated tourism tax, with a $100 minimum. You pay it when you apply for the license and get it back after 3 straight years of on-time payments.§82-99, fee schedule, city tax page
LateA 10% delinquency fee plus 12% a year interest (1% a month). A business that is 30 days past due can have its city business license revoked.§82-103, city tax page

Branson/Lakes TCED sales tax

The Branson/Lakes Area Tourism Community Enhancement District adds a 1% sales tax. Its area takes in most of Branson, all of Indian Point and Branson West, and parts of Taney and Stone counties. Inside Branson, room charges that pay the city’s 4% tourism tax are exempt from the 1%, so DOR lists a lower hotel rate than the general rate for Branson addresses (DOR, Branson/Lakes TCED). The city mentions the same sales tax break for businesses that pay tourism tax (City of Branson). DOR’s page has the rate for your address.

Hollister’s 5% tourism tax

Hollister charges a 5% tourism tax on stays of 30 consecutive days or less in hotels, nightly rentals, bed and breakfasts, condos, campgrounds and docking facilities (Hollister Code Ch. 140 Art. VIII, §§140.360–140.370).

You need a city business license with a tourism tax annotation, plus a Missouri retail sales tax license (§140.400). You pay the City Clerk monthly, by the 20th of the next month (§140.400).

Pay late and you’re charged a 10% collection fee plus 12% a year interest. At 45 days past due, the city can revoke your license (§140.460). Questions go to the Hollister City Clerk.

Stone County’s 3% lodging tax

On April 8, 2025, Stone County voters were asked whether the county should tax “the charges for all sleeping rooms paid by the transient guests of hotels, motels, and short-term rentals situated in specified portions of Stone County at a rate of three percent (3%)” to promote tourism (sample ballot). It passed, 1,516 to 846 (certified results). Only these precincts voted on it: Flat Creek A and B, Ruth A, Ruth B Rural, Ruth B City, Ruth C, Sunset Cove, Alpine, Pine, Pine B and Williams (Commission minutes, Jan. 28, 2025). The County Commission signed the order imposing the tax on April 22, 2025 (minutes).

Unconfirmed: exactly which properties are inside the tax area, when collection started, and where you file. We couldn’t find a county page that says, and the Stone County Collector’s website didn’t load when we checked. The county health department’s vacation rental permit does ask for a county transient occupancy tax remittance form (Stone County Health Department). Ask the Stone County Clerk or the health department which office handles it.

Forsyth, Kimberling City and Reeds Spring

We couldn’t find a lodging or tourism tax for short-term rentals in the Forsyth, Kimberling City or Reeds Spring codes on eCode360. Ask each city to be sure. Their contacts are on the Taney County and Stone County pages.

The directory also lists local cleaning and turnover services and linen and laundry companies.

Other pages in this guide

Sources

These are government pages and code sections unless the line says otherwise. We read each one on October 19, 2026.

  1. Missouri Department of Revenue, Vacation Home Rentals (taxability chart, rev. 03-28-2025), PDF. https://dor.mo.gov/taxation/business/documents/Vacation-Home-Rentals.pdf. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  2. Revised Statutes of Missouri §144.020. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=144.020. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  3. Revised Statutes of Missouri §144.018. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=144.018. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  4. Missouri Department of Revenue, Business Registration FAQs. https://dor.mo.gov/faq/taxation/business/registration.html. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  5. Missouri Department of Revenue, MyTax Missouri: register a new business. https://mytax.mo.gov/rptp/portal/business/register-new-business/. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  6. Revised Statutes of Missouri §144.752 (marketplace facilitators). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=144.752. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  7. Missouri Department of Revenue, Remote Seller and Marketplace Facilitator FAQs. https://dor.mo.gov/faq/taxation/business/remote-seller-and-marketplace-facilitator.html. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  8. Airbnb Help Center, Occupancy tax collection and remittance by Airbnb in Missouri (platform’s own claim, not a government source). https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2312. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  9. City of Branson, Tourism Tax & Bond Requirements. https://www.bransonmo.gov/999/Tourism-Tax-Bond. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  10. Branson Code §82-92, Tourism tax definitions. https://library.municode.com/mo/branson/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCO_CH82TA_ARTVITOTA_S82-92DE. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  11. Branson Code §82-93, Levy of tax. https://library.municode.com/mo/branson/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCO_CH82TA_ARTVITOTA_S82-93LETA. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  12. Branson Code §82-96, Licenses; payment of tax. https://library.municode.com/mo/branson/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCO_CH82TA_ARTVITOTA_S82-96LIPATA. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  13. Branson Code §82-97, Tourism tax returns required. https://library.municode.com/mo/branson/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCO_CH82TA_ARTVITOTA_S82-97TOTARERE. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  14. Branson Code §82-99, Tourism tax deposit. https://library.municode.com/mo/branson/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCO_CH82TA_ARTVITOTA_S82-99TOTADE. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  15. Branson Code Appendix A, Fee Schedule. https://library.municode.com/mo/branson/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCO_APXAFESC. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  16. Branson Code §82-103, Delinquency fees, penalties for nonpayment. https://library.municode.com/mo/branson/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCO_CH82TA_ARTVITOTA_S82-103DEFEPENO. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  17. Missouri Department of Revenue, Branson/Lakes Tourism Community Enhancement District Sales Tax. https://dor.mo.gov/taxation/business/tax-types/sales-use/tourism-community-enhancement.html. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  18. Hollister Code Ch. 140 Art. VIII, Tourism Tax. https://ecode360.com/29542516. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  19. Hollister Code §140.400, Licenses; payment of tax. https://ecode360.com/29542544. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  20. Hollister Code §140.460, Delinquency fees and penalties for non-payment. https://ecode360.com/29542561. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  21. City of Hollister, City Clerk. https://www.hollistermo.gov/page/city-clerk. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  22. Stone County Clerk, sample ballot publication for the April 8, 2025 election, PDF. https://stonecountyclerk.com/media/uploads/downloads/Stone_Publication_040825.pdf. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  23. Stone County Clerk, official certified results, April 8, 2025 General Municipal Election, PDF. https://stonecountyclerk.com/media/uploads/downloads/Official_Certification_-_April_8%2C_2025_General_Municipal_Election_Summary_Report.pdf. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  24. Stone County Commission minutes, Jan. 28, 2025, PDF. https://stonecountyclerk.com/media/uploads/downloads/Comm_Minutes_01-28-2025._docx_.pdf. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  25. Stone County Commission minutes, Apr. 22, 2025, PDF. https://stonecountyclerk.com/media/uploads/downloads/Comm_Minutes_04-22-2025._docx_.pdf. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  26. Stone County Health Department, Lodging Establishment Inspections / Vacation Home Rental. https://stonecountyhealthdepartment.com/lodging-establishment-inspections/. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
  27. Stone County Clerk. https://stonecountyclerk.com/. Checked Oct 19, 2026.

Last checked October 19, 2026. Spot something out of date? Give us a holler and we’ll fix it.