Short stay levy calculator

The mistake almost everyone makes

Hosts budget the levy against their nightly rate. The legislation does not work that way. In Victoria the levy applies to the total booking fee, which the State Revenue Office states includes nightly rates, cleaning fees and GST, and excludes only card or payment-processing surcharges and damage-related costs. In the ACT it applies to the total booking amount including accommodation, booking, cleaning and pet fees, and GST.

A cleaning fee is often 15 to 25% of a short booking's total. Leaving it out of your levy estimate understates what you owe by roughly the same proportion, every single booking, all year.

Sources: SRO Victoria, understanding the short stay levy, ACT Revenue Office, short-term rental accommodation levy

Who actually hands the money over

This differs between the two schemes and it changes what you have to do.

In Victoria, if the booking came through a platform such as Airbnb, Stayz or Booking.com, the platform is liable and remits the levy. If it was a direct booking with no intermediary, you are liable and you remit it yourself. Lodgement is quarterly if your annual short-stay booking fees exceed $75,000, otherwise annually by 30 January for the prior calendar year.

In the ACT, liability sits with the booking service provider in every case. The levy attaches to bookings made through a booking service, so a direct owner booking is outside the scheme entirely. Providers lodge and pay within 30 days after the end of the quarter in which the rental period ends.

• Victoria: platform booking, the platform pays. Direct booking, you pay.
• ACT: the booking service provider pays. Direct bookings are not caught.
• Neither scheme lets you opt out by describing the payment differently.

Sources: SRO Victoria, understanding the short stay levy, ACT Revenue Office, short-term rental accommodation levy

The exemptions that are worth checking

Victoria exempts a property that is your principal place of residence. The ACT takes a different approach and applies its levy specifically to un-hosted accommodation, so a stay where you are on site is outside the scheme, along with hotels, motels, serviced apartment complexes with on-site reception, caravan parks and hostels.

Both schemes only reach continuous stays under 28 days. A stay of 28 nights or more is not a short stay for levy purposes, which is why some hosts restructure longer bookings rather than split them.

Tasmania: not yet, and not 2027

Tasmania's Short Stay Levy Bill 2026 would impose 5% on bookings of fewer than 28 consecutive nights made through a booking platform, with the platform liable. It passed the House of Assembly on 7 May 2026 and had its first reading in the Legislative Council on 15 May 2026. As at the date on this page it has not passed the upper house, has not received Royal Assent, and its commencement is 'a date to be proclaimed'.

We mention this because several sites state a fixed 2027 start date. There is no such date in the bill. If you are modelling Tasmanian returns, model it as a risk, not a line item.

Sources: Parliament of Tasmania, Short Stay Levy Bill 2026 progress

Everywhere else

New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory have no short-stay levy in force. South Australia is the one to watch: a Legislative Council select committee reported in September 2025 recommending fees or levies as part of a state-wide registration scheme, and no government response has been legislated. If a new levy lands anywhere in Australia, it will appear on the change log first.

Common questions

Related

• Victoria's full state framework
• ACT's full state framework