Airbnb and short-term rental laws and regulations in Vermont: 2026

The Stowe farmhouse has been your quiet success story. You listed it three years ago, priced it for ski weekends, and watched it fill up almost every Friday-to-Sunday from November through March without much drama. Guests leave good reviews, the calendar stays green, and the income has become something you count on.

Then two things land at once: a renewal notice from the town with license conditions you don't remember seeing before, and a message from a recent guest asking why the tax line on her invoice was higher than she expected. You pull up the invoice to answer her and realize you can't explain it. Three separate taxes appear on that bill, and you're not certain which one you must collect, which one the platform handles, or whether you need to file a return on your own for one of them.

A tax or licensing mistake can trigger back taxes with interest, or town fines that compound quickly. It can also lead to the consequence hosts rarely anticipate: a denied insurance claim if your policy requires licensing compliance you haven't maintained. Act 183 added a 3% state surcharge in 2024, and by 2026 several ski towns, including communities in the Stowe area, had revised their short-term rental licensing rules in ways that caught hosts mid-lease. If you haven't checked your setup against those changes, you may be collecting the wrong tax rate or operating without a current town license.

What counts as a short-term rental under Vermont law

Vermont defines a short-term rental as a furnished house or condominium rented to the transient, traveling, or vacationing public for fewer than 30 consecutive days and more than 14 days per calendar year, under 32 V.S.A. § 9301. The same definition covers an operator who rents a furnished dwelling room under those conditions. Both conditions matter: rent a furnished condo for a full ski season and it falls outside the definition; rent it for a dozen weekend stays and it falls squarely inside. The busiest Vermont short-term rental markets tend to have the most detailed local rules layered on top.

The definition also draws a line between STRs and licensed lodging establishments. 18 V.S.A. § 4301(12) states that "'Lodging establishment' does not include short-term rentals." Hotels and inns follow lodging rules, as do other properties that hold licenses under 18 V.S.A. chapter 85, and those properties are exempt from the 3% STR surcharge. The Vermont Department of Taxes says the surcharge applies if your property doesn't need a lodging license.

If builders substantially completed your rental property before January 1, 2007, it may qualify for what the Agency of Natural Resources calls a "Clean Slate exemption" from certain wastewater and potable water permit requirements under the DEC rules, but that exemption isn't unconditional. Starting to rent, or changing the use of the building in a way that increases design flow, can still trigger a permit requirement, so don't assume an older structure is automatically in the clear. Confirm your specific situation against the DEC's conditions before you list.

Vermont short-term rental taxes

Vermont STR bookings can carry a stacked tax bill:

• Tax | Rate | Authority | Who remits it
• State Rooms Tax | 9% | 32 V.S.A. § 9241(a) | Platform for platform bookings; host for direct bookings
• Short-term rental surcharge (Act 183) | 3% | 32 V.S.A. § 9301 | Same as rooms tax
• Local option rooms tax | 1% in adopting towns | 24 V.S.A. § 138 | Same as rooms tax

The 9% base rate, set by 32 V.S.A. § 9241(a), has not changed for 2025 or 2026; the Legislature last amended the statute in 1997. Act 183 of 2024 (H.887) created the 3% surcharge, which applies when a host or platform collects rent on or after August 1, 2024, and every dollar goes to the Education Fund.

The 1% local option tax, authorized by 24 V.S.A. § 138, depends on your town. Stowe and Killington impose it, as do Dover and Winhall, which puts the combined rate at 13% in those markets. More Vermont municipalities keep adopting the tax: the local option tax page shows that Putney and Ludlow added it in July 2025, while a dozen more towns, including Morristown, Waitsfield, and Peru, follow on July 1, 2026. Since October 1, 2025, adopting municipalities keep 75% of the revenue and the state keeps 25%.

Burlington is the outlier. The city administers its own gross-receipts tax rather than the standard 1% local option, and Burlington's tax return sets the STR-applicable rate at 9% for sales beginning August 1, 2024. Qualifying rentals also carry the state's 9% rooms tax and 3% STR surcharge, which hosts report separately as applicable.

How to register with the Vermont Department of Taxes via myVTax

Registration depends on how you take bookings. The Department of Taxes is direct on this point: "If you only rent on a platform and receive no other rents, you do not need to register for a rooms tax account or collect tax yourself." But "if you rent on a platform but also rent independently, you must register with the Department and collect and remit the tax for any stays booked independently off the platform. Registration is free." (Vermont Department of Taxes) Register before you collect a single dollar of tax.

If you take any direct or off-platform bookings, here is the sequence:

1. Create a myVTax user account. On the myVTax homepage, click "Need an Account? Click Here to Register" in the login box.
2. Start the business tax registration by selecting "Sign Up" on the myVTax homepage.
3. Complete Form BR-400, the Business Tax Account application. You'll need your FEIN (required for all employers), an SSN for sole proprietorships, a NAICS code from the Census Bureau's lookup tool, and your Meals and Rooms start date.
4. Select a Meals and Rooms Tax account. It is a separate account type from Sales and Use or Withholding.
5. The Department issues your Meals and Rooms Tax license at no charge. Display it where customers can easily see it.

You then file on Form MRT-441, the Meals and Rooms Tax Return, which remains the current form (revised September 2022). All three taxes go on this single return, and the surcharge calculates automatically in myVTax when you enter the rental amount under "Rent from Short Term Rentals." Surcharge payers must file and pay electronically. Monthly filers owe by the 25th of the following month; quarterly due dates for 2026 are April 27, July 27, October 26, and January 25, 2027. Keep records identifying each tenant and the rental dates, and record the amount charged for every direct booking so your returns hold up if the Department asks.

What Airbnb and Vrbo collect vs. what you still owe

The Airbnb Help Center says Airbnb collects and remits the 9% Meals and Rooms Tax and the 3% Short-Term Rental Surcharge for qualifying reservations of 29 nights or shorter. Airbnb also collects the 1% local option tax where it applies, calculating all of them on the listing price including cleaning and guest fees, and remits under meals and rooms tax ID number MRT-10126712. A host who lists exclusively on Airbnb has no independent registration or remittance obligation for these taxes.

Vrbo's published tax table does not explicitly list the 3% surcharge. Its U.S. lodging-tax jurisdiction table lists the Vermont State Meals and Rooms Tax and the local option tax (Vrbo has collected both since September 1, 2019) but does not name the 3% surcharge as a separately collected item. Vermont law places surcharge responsibility on the platform, and the Department of Taxes says platforms must collect it. Still, Avalara has reported that Vrbo does not collect certain Burlington local taxes that Airbnb does, and Vrbo's own terms warn: "You're also responsible for collecting and remitting lodging taxes when we're not liable to do so." Check your Vrbo tax-by-jurisdiction report booking by booking to see exactly which taxes the platform remitted.

Platform collection never covers direct bookings. If a repeat guest texts you to book off-platform, you owe all three taxes on that stay through your own myVTax account. And no platform files your income taxes; the Department of Taxes requires hosts to report rental income on their Vermont Personal Income Tax return regardless of where bookings originate.

Insurance for short-term rentals in Vermont

Hosts across Vermont turn to short-term rental insurance in Vermont for the guest-liability and property coverage a homeowners policy leaves out.

Vermont fire and safety code requirements for short-term rentals

The DFS code guidance, which applies to furnished units rented for stays of less than 30 days, classifies STRs by occupant count, and the code that applies shifts at each threshold. DFS caps a single dwelling unit rented as an STR at 8 occupants unless an official DFS report authorizes more. It classifies STRs that sleep 9 to 16 people as lodging and rooming houses under NFPA 101 Chapter 26, and for 17 or more people, DFS applies the hotel and dormitory chapters.

The Division of Fire Safety (DFS) uses the eight-person threshold to determine whether it must inspect the property:

• Sleeping 8 or fewer, you complete the Short-Term Rental Checklist yourself and leave a copy on the premises in a conspicuous location. DFS does not require an inspection, though the Division reserves the right to inspect.
• Sleeping more than 8, you must file a change-of-use inspection request, comply with the applicable codes, and receive a final report stating "Occupancy: Granted" before hosting a single guest. Permit review can take up to 30 days, so build that into any acquisition or conversion timeline.

Smoke alarms must be photoelectric or UL 217 8th Edition (or newer). Install them inside and immediately outside sleeping rooms, and add an alarm on every floor, including the basement. Hosts must hard-wire new alarms; owners of buildings that predate 1994 may use 10-year lithium-powered tamper-resistant battery units in sleeping rooms only. Install carbon monoxide alarms outside each sleeping area and inside any sleeping room with a fuel-burning appliance or fireplace, plus one on every occupied level, including basements. CO units must be AC/DC-powered, connected directly to the building's electrical service, with battery backup.

Every sleeping room needs a primary and secondary means of escape, and a compliant window can serve as the secondary route. The DFS egress code sheet requires a clear opening of at least 5.7 sq. ft. for new windows (5.0 sq. ft. for existing). The opening must be at least 20 inches wide and 24 inches tall, with a sill no more than 44 inches above the floor. A window measuring exactly 24 by 20 inches yields only 3.33 sq. ft. and fails the area test, so measure the actual clear opening.

One statewide posting rule applies to every Vermont STR regardless of size: 20 V.S.A. § 2678, effective June 17, 2024, requires operators to physically post DFS health-and-safety guidance in a conspicuous place in the unit, and to include that guidance in any listing on Airbnb, Vrbo, or elsewhere.

Lodging license, wastewater permits, and occupancy limits

A Vermont Department of Health lodging license kicks in at three or more units. The Licensed Lodging Establishment Rule defines a lodging establishment as one "renting three or more guest rooms or units," and VDH requires a license below that threshold only if you serve prepared food, the bed-and-breakfast model. The Department of Health confirms that STRs offering fewer than three units with no prepared food need no lodging license, but remain subject to the Division of Fire Safety's regulations.

Even unlicensed STRs carry health-code duties under the Vermont Rental Housing Health and Safety Code (18 V.S.A. chapter 85). Because 20 V.S.A. § 2676 expressly includes STRs within the definition of "rental housing," those obligations apply regardless of licensing status:

• Post inside the unit a phone number for the responsible person, plus contact information for the Department of Health and the Division of Fire Safety (§ 4467).
• Section 4468 requires you to retain a completed self-certification form on health and safety precautions.

Your wastewater permit caps how many guests you can legally host. Vermont DEC's Wastewater System and Potable Water Supply Rules (effective November 6, 2023) define a bedroom as any room "permitted, used, or serves as sleeping quarters," so calling a bunk room a "den" changes nothing. Design flow runs 70 gallons per person per day. The rules assume 2 persons each for the first three bedrooms and 1 person for each additional bedroom, while DEC guidance says rental-use systems should be sized for at least 2 persons per bedroom. Adding a bedroom or converting from seasonal to year-round use requires a permit amendment before the change, as does any other change that increases design flow. DEC's ADU fact sheet is blunt about short-term renting an accessory unit: "A WW Permit is still required."

VDH and DEC impose separate water-supply requirements. Licensed lodging establishments on a private well or spring must test annually for Total Coliform and E. coli through a state-certified lab, and a 2019 law also requires owners to test any new or deepened well before use. STR operators on nonpublic supplies must file a certificate of compliance, a self-certification attesting that the system has no known violations of Vermont's water supply rules. A well serving 15 or more connections, or an average of 25 or more people daily for 60 or more days a year, is a regulated Transient Non-Community Water System. Vermont's updated Water Supply Rule takes effect January 1, 2026.

Local short-term rental rules in Burlington, Stowe, Killington, Dover, and Winhall

Vermont has no statewide STR registry, so each town sets its own registration requirements. Seven Days reports that a bill to create one "did not advance out of committee this past legislative session." Towns filled the gap themselves, and the five below run established programs:

• Town | Annual fee | Renewal deadline | Responsible contact rule | In-unit posting
• Burlington | $80 partial-unit, $220 whole-unit, $50 transfer | April 1 | Chittenden County managing agent if the owner lives outside the county; always-available emergency contact for guests | Registration number on all advertising
• Stowe | $100 per unit | April 30, 2026 | Designated Responsible Person must respond in person within 45 minutes of Firefighter or Police notification | Responsible person, VDH, and DFS contacts; state self-certification kept on-site
• Killington | $300–$600 by bedroom count | November 15 | Operator reachable by phone at all times the STR is in use | State Safety, Health and Financial Obligations form in every unit
• Dover | $125 per property | Annual | Phone response within 1 hour, 24/7 while rented | Emergency contact list displayed; photo proof at registration
• Winhall | $500 per bedroom ($1,000 min, $4,000 max) | October 31, 2026, no grace period | Not stated in town sources | License and visitor emergency info posted at all times

Burlington's Chapter 18 ordinance restricts what you can register: your primary residence as one whole-unit STR or up to three rooms, plus one additional unit in the same building or lot if it has fewer than five dwelling units. The city allows a whole-unit STR that isn't your primary residence, a non-homestead property, only for assessor-designated seasonal homes or when the host rents another unit in the building meeting affordability criteria. As of July 22, 2026, the ordinance requires most hosts to live on the same property as the units they rent, but Seven Days reports that the city has paused penalties during a court challenge.

Stowe changed the most in 2026. VTDigger's Stowe report describes a 2026 ordinance amendment, reported August 1, that set an aspirational cap of 850 STRs town-wide and limited homestead owners to two STR licenses; it also gave non-residents until September 15 to register to preserve renewal eligibility. Adding a bedroom in Stowe also requires a zoning permit. Killington's zoning bylaws tie occupancy to bedrooms, at 2 occupants per approved bedroom plus 2, so a 3-bedroom unit maxes at 8 people, while Act 250-permitted condos follow the capacity their permits authorize instead. Dover's short-term rental ordinance also requires photo proof of bear-proof trash storage at registration. Winhall adopted its per-bedroom fee on December 4, 2024 and amended it effective June 14, 2026; it is the steepest licensing cost in the state.

Why your homeowner policy falls short for a Vermont STR

A guest leaves a candle burning, the kitchen catches, and during adjustment your carrier learns the "home" it insured has hosted 40 paid stays this year. The Insurance Information Institute states that "standard homeowners insurance policies do not provide any coverage for business activities conducted in the home," and its March 2026 outlook confirms that homeowner policy exclusions can limit or even void coverage for the dwelling and contents when an owner uses a residence commercially, including as an STR. Those exclusions can also affect loss of use and liability. An Amwins client advisory explains that the standard HO-3 form excludes theft from any part of the residence rented to others, caps landlord furnishings at $2,500 on a named-perils basis, and excludes business liability.

AirCover does not replace insurance that covers the property across platforms and during vacancies. Host Damage Protection carries a $3,000,000 cap per Airbnb stay, but Airbnb states plainly that it "isn't insurance." It pays at actual cash value after Airbnb deducts depreciation, excludes wear and tear, and excludes mold and acts of nature. Coverage applies only to Airbnb bookings, and you must submit claims within 30 days of checkout. Vrbo stays and direct bookings sit outside it entirely, as do vacancy periods, and it won't replace income you lose while damage keeps the property out of service unless guest-caused damage forced you to cancel a confirmed booking. The separate $1 million Host Liability Insurance program addresses guest injury, not damage to your property.

A policy that names short-term rental as a covered occupancy gives you a declaration of insurance coverage the carrier can't disclaim for undisclosed business use, closing the gap subject to the policy's terms and limits. Steadily insures short-term rentals in Vermont, naming Airbnb and Vrbo use as a covered occupancy, with dwelling-fire forms ranging from DP1 through DP3. Liability limits range from $100K to $1M+. Get a quote in minutes at Steadily's quote portal, no phone call required.

Vermont short-term rental legislation to watch in 2026

Act 183 of 2024 remains the biggest state-level change in force, and its 3% surcharge is now fully baked into the tax stack described above. The 2026 legislative guide reports that the Legislature adjourned its 2026 session on May 29, 2026 without passing any significant new statewide STR registration law.

Three bills sometimes tracked alongside STR policy died in committee, and none was an STR bill. H.256 addressed judiciary labor relations, S.79 addressed a recreational trails study committee, and H.200 addressed firearm possession.

The Vermont Legislature must still decide whether to authorize Stowe's proposed tax authority. Residents backed a charter amendment authorizing a 2% local option rooms tax, but state statute currently caps the rate at 1%, and VTDigger reported in March 2026 that the proposal faces a difficult path. For now, towns are changing STR rules more actively than the Legislature, so monitor your select board's agenda.

FAQ

Your unit count and booking method determine which tax and licensing rules apply, while occupancy and food service determine the relevant safety requirements.

Is my property a short-term rental or a lodging establishment?

If you rent a furnished unit for stays of less than 30 days and more than 14 days a year, you meet the duration requirements for an STR. If you also operate fewer than three units without serving prepared food, you need no Health Department license. Three or more units, or any prepared food service, makes you a licensed lodging establishment, which exempts you from the 3% surcharge but adds licensing and, if the property uses a private well or spring, annual well-testing duties.

What is the total tax rate on a Vermont STR booking?

The combined rate reaches 13% in adopting towns such as Stowe, Killington, Dover, and Winhall. That total includes the 9% state rooms tax, the 3% Act 183 surcharge, and the 1% local option tax. Burlington runs its own separate 9% gross-receipts tax instead of the 1% local option, and qualifying Burlington rentals also carry the 9% state rooms tax and 3% state STR surcharge, reported separately as applicable.

Do I need a myVTax account if I only list on Airbnb?

No. Platform-exclusive hosts have no independent registration or remittance obligation because the platform must collect and remit. Any direct or off-platform booking triggers your own registration and MRT-441 filings.

What smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and other safety equipment do I need, and what is the self-certification?

STRs sleeping 8 or fewer skip the DFS inspection but must complete the state Short-Term Rental Checklist and keep a copy conspicuously on the premises, and must retain the health and safety self-certification form required under 18 V.S.A. § 4468. At 9 or more occupants, DFS must inspect the property and issue an "Occupancy: Granted" report first.

Does my wastewater permit limit guest count?

Yes. The permit's bedroom count sets the flow your system is sized for, and hosting more bedrooms or guests than it authorizes violates DEC rules and the certifications in your STR registration. Adding bedrooms requires a permit amendment before the work.

Do I need a town registration on top of state compliance?

Probably. Vermont has no statewide STR registry, so registration is a town matter, and Burlington, Stowe, Killington, Dover, and Winhall all run annual licensing programs with their own fees, deadlines, and posting rules.

Can an HOA, condo association, or Act 250 permit override town rules?

Private covenants and association bylaws often restrict rentals beyond state or town requirements, so read your governing documents before listing. Act 250 permits also control: Killington caps Act 250-permitted condos at the occupancy the permit authorizes rather than the town's bedroom formula.

Do I owe Vermont income tax on my rental earnings?

Yes. The Department of Taxes requires hosts, even platform-exclusive ones, to report rental income on the Vermont Personal Income Tax return, where it flows from federal Schedule E as ordinary income. Nonresidents owe Vermont tax on Vermont-source rental income and face 2.5% withholding on the sale price when they sell the property.

If AirCover pays up to $3 million, why do I need a separate policy?

Because it pays depreciated actual cash value and covers only Airbnb stays. It gives you 30 days to file, excludes acts of nature and mold, and excludes lost income beyond guest-caused booking cancellations. A dedicated STR policy can cover the property across platforms and during vacancy, subject to its terms and limits.