Park City & Summit County, Utah short-term rentals: licenses and lodging tax.

Who licenses your rental?

Three governments can be involved, depending on where the property sits, not what the mailing address says:

• Park City licenses nightly rentals inside city limits, including the Deer Valley and Park City Mountain base areas.
• Summit County licenses rentals in unincorporated areas such as the Snyderville Basin and Kimball Junction. These often use a Park City mailing address.
• Wasatch County side: part of upper Deer Valley sits in Wasatch County (the Utah rate chart lists it as “Park City East”).

Confirm the parcel’s jurisdiction with the county before you buy or list. It decides your license, your tax rate and which returns you file.

Park City: the Nightly Rental License

• Required for stays under 30 days, and only in zones where nightly rentals are allowed. Check the city’s zoning map first.
• You’ll need a Utah sales tax ID (unless you rent only through platforms that collect for you).
• The property must pass a Building Department inspection before the license is issued. Approval usually takes 15 to 30 days.
• Questions go to the city’s nightly rental team at [email protected].

Unincorporated Summit County

• A county business license is required for short-term rentals: $350, not prorated, running until January 15. Both the owner and any property manager need one.
• The rental must be able to pass a Park City Fire District inspection.
• Since late 2023, guest houses and accessory dwelling units must be rented for 30 days or longer.
• The county added a short-term rental complaint hotline in January 2026. In August 2026 it proposed its first business-license code update since 2013, including moving renewals to November 15–December 31 starting in 2027. Nothing was adopted as of October 2026.

Lodging tax: what guests pay

In Utah, a nightly rental carries the combined sales tax rate (which already includes the resort communities tax in resort areas) plus transient room taxes from the county, the state and, in some cities, the municipality. Combined rates are from the Utah State Tax Commission chart effective April 1, 2026, and transient room taxes from the chart effective October 1, 2025:

The state transient room tax is 1.07%, and rates change every quarter. Confirm the rate for your exact address on the Tax Commission’s rate chart.

Who files the returns?

Utah requires marketplace platforms to collect and remit sales tax and sales-related taxes, including transient room tax, on bookings made through them. You don’t report those platform sales yourself.

• Direct bookings, repeat guests, or any channel that doesn’t collect for you: you collect and file the taxes yourself, under your own Utah sales tax license.
• The local license is required either way. Platforms collecting tax doesn’t replace the city or county license.
• Check each platform’s tax breakdown at least once a year to make sure every layer, including the newer state transient room rate, is being collected.

What it means for your books

1. Record the gross booking, not the payout. Book platform fees, cleaning and taxes separately so income and costs are both right.
2. Set up the right tax rate for your address. A Snyderville Basin condo and a Park City condo carry different rates, and the wrong one throws off every direct-booking return.
3. Keep platform-collected tax apart from tax you owe on direct bookings, so your returns tie to your books.
4. Budget the license and inspection as yearly fixed costs, with the county renewal due by January 15.
5. Log owner stays. Your CPA needs rented nights and personal nights counted separately.

Why mountain towns? I’m a mountain lover. I ski, I mountain bike, and I’d rather be outdoors in the mountains than almost anywhere. Helping owners here keep clear books is my kind of work. — Brian

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rules, caps, fees and rates change often in mountain towns, so confirm current requirements with your town or county and your CPA.