Aspen short-term rental hosts must get business license, vacation rental permit under new law
- Oct 20, 2020 | Jennifer Sokolowsky
The City Council of Aspen, Colorado, has passed a new ordinance requiring all short-term rental hosts to register with the city for a business license and vacation rental permit. The new rules will go into effect 30 days after the October 13 approval.
Under the measure, each individually addressed rental unit must apply for its own business license and short-term rental permit. However, property managers are allowed to file one aggregate lodging tax return for multiple vacation rental units as long as they include the business license number for each address.
The new requirements will make it easier for the city to track vacation rentals and more effectively collect lodging taxes from them.
In Colorado, state law requires short-term rental hosts to collect taxes from guests, including state sales tax and state-administered local sales and lodging taxes. Before they can collect these taxes, hosts must register with the state for a tax license. Airbnb and Vrbo automatically collect state-administered sales and short-term rental taxes for their hosts in Colorado.
Aspen also requires short-term rental hosts to collect city sales and lodging taxes and file lodging tax returns. Neither Airbnb nor Vrbo collect these taxes for Aspen hosts.
If lodging taxes aren’t collected for you, you’re responsible for compliance. And even if your rental platform does collect taxes for you, you’re still required to register for business and tax licenses and file regular lodging tax returns.
MyLodgeTax can automate and simplify short-term rental tax compliance, including registration and filing with state and local tax authorities. For more on short-term rental taxes in Colorado, see our state Vacation Rental Tax Guide. If you have tax questions related to vacation rental properties, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you with answers.
Colorado short-term rentals were reopened for business statewide in June after being closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pitkin County short-term lodgings controlled or licensed by professional property managers were allowed to start operating again at 50% occupancy in May.
