What the short stay levy is

The short stay levy is a Victorian state tax on short stay accommodation. It was introduced by the Short Stay Levy Act 2024 and is administered by the State Revenue Office (SRO). It has applied to short stays since 1 January 2025.

A short stay is a stay of fewer than 28 consecutive days in the same property. The checkout day is not counted.

The rate is 7.5% of the total booking fee. The SRO says the money raised funds social and affordable housing, with 25% invested in regional Victoria.

The levy is a charge on bookings, not a cap on how often you can host. For how Victoria sits alongside the states that do limit nights, see short-stay night caps in Australia.

Where the levy applies in Victoria

The levy is statewide. A city apartment in Melbourne, a house in Geelong and a holiday home on the coast are all treated the same way. There is no separate rate for regional areas.

It applies to stays in accommodation such as:

• an entire house or apartment
• a private room in a house, where the house is not the principal place of residence of the owner or renter
• a granny flat or other separate dwelling, such as a tiny home or caravan, if it can be occupied separately from the main home.

Unless an exclusion applies, the levy covers any premises that can accommodate a person. That includes premises that are temporary or mobile. For a caravan, it applies only when the guest stays at one site for the whole booking. Hiring out a caravan to travel from site to site does not attract it.

If you let a property anywhere in the state, our Victoria Airbnb management page shows how we run listings across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

The 28 day threshold

The levy turns on one number. A stay of fewer than 28 consecutive days in the same property is a short stay. A stay of 28 days or more is not, so the levy does not apply to it.

The checkout day is not counted. A guest who checks in on 1 March and checks out on 29 March stays 28 days, so that booking sits outside the levy. If the same guest checks out on 28 March, the stay is 27 days and the levy applies to the whole booking.

This is why some hosts set a 28 night minimum stay in quieter months and market those dates to longer-stay guests, such as contractors and people between homes. Our guide to filling the year around short-stay rules covers how that middle band of bookings works.

How the levy is calculated

The levy is 7.5% of the total booking fee for each short stay.

The booking fee includes:

• the nightly rate
• cleaning fees
• GST, where it is charged
• a late checkout fee, if there is one.

The booking fee does not include credit card fees, other payment processing charges, or charges for damage caused to the property.

A worked example in AUD

A guest books a three night stay directly with you. The nightly rate is $245, the cleaning fee is $95 and you charge a $30 late checkout. The guest also pays a $12 card surcharge.

• Nightly rate: 3 x $245 = $735
• Cleaning fee: $95
• Late checkout: $30
• Total booking fee: $860
• Levy at 7.5%: $64.50

The $12 card surcharge is left out of the total booking fee, so it does not change the levy.

Rounding and all-inclusive prices

If you charge one all-inclusive fee, the levy is worked out on that fee.

The levy is rounded down to the nearest 5 cents when it is not already a multiple of 5 cents. On a total booking fee of $1,237, 7.5% is $92.775. Rounded down to the nearest 5 cents, the levy is $92.75.

Keep a record of how each direct booking was priced. It makes the return simpler, and it shows which charges you left out of the booking fee and why.

Who pays the levy

Who pays depends on how the booking was made.

Bookings through a platform

Platforms that accept short stay bookings, such as Airbnb, Stayz and Booking.com, must register for the levy. They collect it on every booking made through them, lodge and pay it, and report booking details to the SRO. Platforms do not register each property separately.

If every booking for your property comes through a platform, you do not need to register. The levy sits alongside the platform's own fees, which our guide to Airbnb hosting fees in Australia sets out.

Direct bookings

If you accept a booking directly, without a platform, the levy is yours to pay. This applies to the property owner, or to a tenant who lets the property under a residential rental agreement and takes short stay bookings.

Registering and lodging returns for direct bookings

If you have a levy liability, you must register before you lodge your first return. You register through the SRO's short stay levy portal as an owner or a tenant.

How often you lodge depends on the total booking fees for the property in a calendar year:

• $75,000 or more: you lodge and pay quarterly, within 30 days after the end of each quarter.
• Less than $75,000: you lodge and pay once a year, by 30 January.

If you start on annual lodgement and your booking fees pass $75,000 during the year, you switch to quarterly lodgement for the rest of that year.

When you lodge through the portal you can pay by credit card or one-off direct debit. If the SRO issues you an assessment, you can pay it by BPAY or credit card.

Exclusions and exemptions

Some properties are not short stay accommodation at all, so the levy does not apply. The common exclusions are:

• a short stay in a property that is the principal place of residence of the owner or renter
• a property that cannot be occupied separately from the main home, for example because it shares an entrance, kitchen or bathroom
• commercial residential accommodation, such as hotels, motels and hostels
• a houseboat that the guest can move during the stay.

If your property is excluded and you list it on a platform, tell each platform so it does not charge the levy. Some platforms have the declaration form on their own site. If not, the SRO provides one. For direct bookings at an excluded property, you do not need to lodge a return.

Some accommodation is exempt outright and needs no application or declaration. This includes staff housing within a broader facility such as a school, hospital or farm, rooming houses, retirement villages, residential care, student accommodation linked to an educational institution, and some non-profit crisis accommodation.

If you are not sure whether your property counts as commercial residential premises, the SRO points to the ATO's GST ruling on the topic. You can also ask the SRO for a private ruling.

The levy, income tax and GST

The short stay levy is a Victorian state tax. Your federal tax obligations are separate and are set by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

The ATO says you must declare all income from renting out your property in your tax return, and that this includes short-term rentals and renting through a sharing platform. See the ATO's guidance on rental income you must declare.

On GST, the ATO says you do not need to pay GST on residential rent. GST only needs to be considered if you carry on an enterprise renting out commercial residential premises. See the ATO page on renting out all or part of your home.

How much tax you pay on hosting income depends on your own circumstances. Check the ATO guidance and speak to an accountant before you rely on any figure.

What this means for Victorian hosts

If all your bookings come through platforms, the levy is collected and paid for you. Your main jobs are to price with it in mind, and to tell the platforms if your property is excluded.

If you take direct bookings, you carry the full process. You register with the SRO, work out 7.5% of each booking fee under 28 days, keep records, and lodge on time.

The levy is one part of the rules in Victoria. Owners corporation powers, safety duties and council rules in Melbourne are covered in our guide to Melbourne short-term rental rules. If you would rather hand the work over, see how our Melbourne Airbnb management service runs your listing.