Short-term rental tax profile
Cortez, Colorado
Total lodging tax: 4.90%
Is it allowed here
No specific short-term rental prohibition or regulation located; local land-use coordination referenced but no explicit ban.
What counts as a short-term rental here
Stays less than 30 consecutive days
Long stays
Stays of 30 days or more (not subject to lodging taxes)
Tax applies to stays of less than 30 consecutive days.
Source High
What the guest is charged
| Tax | Rate | Applies to | Counts as short-term | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado state lodging taxState of Colorado Department of Revenue (state lodging tax) | 2.9% | Includes listing price and cleaning fees per Airbnb guidance. | short-term stays less than 30 days, per SB24-033 classification; lodging tax applies under 30 consecutive days short-term stay definition. | High | Source |
| Cortez city lodger’s taxCity of Cortez | 2% | Includes listing price including cleaning fees. | Stays less than 30 consecutive days. | Medium | Secondary source |
| Montezuma County lodging district tax (within Cortez)Montezuma County | 0% | n/a | Medium | Source |
Who actually remits it
Whoever runs the guest's card owes the tax. That is the whole rule, and it is why the same booking can be taxed differently on two platforms.
| Platform | Merchant of record | Collects | You charge | You remit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbnb | Platform | Partially | Nothing, Airbnb collects and remits all of state (2.90%) and city (2.00%) lodging taxes | None |
| Vrbo | Partner | None | 2.90% (state) + 2.00% (city) = 4.90% lodging tax to charge guests | All state and city lodging taxes |
| Booking.com | Partner | None | 4.90% lodging tax | All state and city lodging taxes |
| Expedia | Partner | None | 4.90% lodging tax | All state and city lodging taxes |
| Partner | None | 4.90% lodging tax | All state and city lodging taxes | |
| Whimstay | Partner | None | 4.90% lodging tax | All state and city lodging taxes |
| Direct | Partner | None | 4.90% lodging tax | All state and city lodging taxes |
On a real booking
$200 a night, 1 nights, $0 cleaning
For a 1-night booking at $200 (including cleaning fee), guest total lodging tax under direct booking is $200 × 4.90% = $9.80; if booked via Airbnb, Airbnb collects and remits that for you.
What this page cannot see
Your HOA, condo board or neighborhood covenant
This page covers public law: what the state, county and city require. It cannot see the private rules attached to your specific property. An HOA, a condo association, a co-op board or a recorded neighborhood covenant can cap nights, require its own registration and fees, demand approval of every guest, or prohibit short-term renting outright, no matter what Cortez, Colorado allows. Those documents are not published anywhere public, so read your CC&Rs, bylaws and any lease before you take a booking. They routinely override everything above.
Sub-city districts you may sit inside
Tax can also attach below the city line. Tourism improvement and business improvement districts, resort area districts, convention and stadium districts, transit districts and community development districts are all drawn on a map, and whether you owe them depends on which side of a street you are on. They are usually a small percentage or a flat nightly amount, they are charged to the guest like any other lodging tax, and they are the layer most often missed because nobody expects a district smaller than a city to levy one.
If your address sits inside one, your county or city finance office can confirm it. Ask specifically whether any special district assessment applies to transient lodging at your parcel.
Primary sources
Take the PDF with you
Everything above as a designed profile you can file, print, or hand to a bookkeeper. Reading it here stays free; the document goes to an inbox.
Corzly does not file this for you
You register, you collect, you remit, you hold the licenses. What we do is run the property so those numbers are right in the first place, on every channel, without you chasing them.
We manage short-term rentals remotely, 300+ properties across 50+ cities and 7 countries, so where the property sits makes no difference to whether we can take it on.
Talk to us about your portfolioHow to use this page. Corzly does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice, and we are not licensed tax professionals. This profile is automated research compiled from published government sources. Each figure carries a link to the source we read, so you can verify it yourself rather than take our word for it.
Tax rates, license requirements and filing rules change, and any source can be superseded without notice. Anything we could not confirm is marked Low confidence or listed under "Still to confirm" rather than guessed at. Before charging a guest, registering, or filing a return, confirm every figure directly with the taxing authority.
Registering, collecting, filing and remitting remain your responsibility. If the amounts matter to your business, and they do, take this research to a licensed tax professional or the authority itself before acting on it.
If you would rather hand the whole thing off, a service like Avalara MyLodgeTax can register, file and remit on your behalf.