What Is the Lodging Tax on Short-Term Rentals in Wyoming?

The two taxes, and why they're separate

Short-term rental owners in Wyoming often expect one tax line and get surprised by two. They're legally distinct:

• Sales tax applies to the transaction generally, same as it would on most retail purchases.
• Lodging tax is a use-specific tax that applies only to overnight accommodations of fewer than 30 consecutive days — it exists specifically to fund tourism promotion and tourism-related local infrastructure.

Both apply to the same booking. Neither replaces the other.

Sheridan's combined rate, broken down

The lodging tax's state share (3%) funds the Wyoming Office of Tourism statewide. Wyoming's 2021 statewide lodging tax law (effective January 1, 2021) set a base structure of 3% to the state, with counties permitted to levy up to 2% locally as their own county-wide lodging tax — some counties can add further local-option lodging tax on top, up to a combined statutory maximum of 7% total lodging tax where authorized, but Sheridan County's current rate is 2% locally, for a 5% combined lodging tax.

Sheridan County's 2% county-wide lodging tax was originally adopted at a higher rate (4%, approved in the 2018 election, collections beginning July 1, 2019) and was reduced to the current 2% when the 2021 state law took effect and capped most pre-existing local lodging taxes at 2%. Sheridan County voters reauthorized the 2% county-wide lodging tax again in 2026, as these local option taxes require periodic voter renewal in Wyoming.

Who collects and remits it

If you book and manage bookings through Airbnb, VRBO, or Booking.com directly, tax collection and remittance can be partially or fully automated by the platform in some cases — but the property owner or the licensed manager acting on their behalf remains responsible for registering with the Wyoming Department of Revenue and confirming remittance is happening correctly. This is not optional and it is not automatically handled just because a platform is involved. Wyoming's lodging tax generates roughly $60 million annually statewide, and noncompliance is a known, ongoing issue the state is actively working to close.

What this means if you're evaluating a manager

Ask directly: who registers the property with the Wyoming Department of Revenue, who remits both taxes on the correct schedule, and who is accountable if a filing is missed. A licensed Wyoming brokerage carries this as a standard compliance obligation under its trust-accounting and recordkeeping duties — it isn't an extra service, it's baseline.