Hotel-Motel Tax

Hot-Tax

The City of Port Isabel requires that you register any short term rental property with the Finance Department. Short-Term Rentals (less than 30 days) are required to collect and pay Hotel-Motel Tax.

Register your property with the City of Port Isabel> click here.
Apply for a Texas Taxpayer ID to pay the State Hotel Occupancy Tax.
File HOT monthly with the City of Port Isabel and the Texas State Comptroller.

FAQs

The Hotel Occupancy for the Short-Term Rentals in Port Isabel is as follows:

City HOT: 8.5%
County Venue Tax 0.5%
Local HOT Total = 9%
State HOT Total = 6%
Total HOT collected on Port Isabel's Short-Term Rentals = 15%

The City of Port Isabel tax is in addition to the 6% rate imposed by the State of Texas. Any payment due to the State should be remitted to the State Comptroller. For more information on the State Comptroller, click here. Or call (800)252-1385.

To pay the Hotel Occupancy Tax due the City of Port Isabel, remit payment to:
City of Port Isabel
305 E. Maxan St.
Port Isabel, Texas 78578

For further information:
City of Port Isabel Finance Department
(956) 943-0703
ar@copitx.com

HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX USE GUIDELINES UNDER TEXAS STATE LAW FUNDING APPLICATION FORM:

State Law: By law of the State of Texas, the City of Port Isabel collects a Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) from hotels, bed & breakfasts, and other lodging facilities. Under state law, the revenue from the HOT may be used only to directly promote tourism and the hotel and convention industry. Chapter 351 of the Tax Code states that the use of HOT funds is limited to:

a) Convention Centers and Visitor Information Centers: the acquisition of sites for and the construction, improvement, enlarging, equipping, repairing operation and maintenance of convention center facilities or visitor information centers, or both;

b) Registration of Convention Delegates: the furnishing of facilities, personnel, and materials for the registration of convention delegates or registrants;

c) Advertising, Solicitations and Promotions that Directly Promote Tourism and the Hotel and Convention Industry: advertising and conducting solicitations and promotional programs to attract tourists and convention delegates or registrants to the municipality or its vicinity;

d) Promotions of the Arts that Directly Promote Tourism and the Hotel and Convention Industry: the encouragement, promotion, improvement, and application of the arts that can be shown to have some direct impact on tourism and the hotel/convention industry. The impact may be that the art facility or event can show hotel nights that are booked due to their events or that guests at hotels attend the arts event. Eligible forms of art include instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture, design and allied fields, painting, sculpture photography, graphic and craft arts, motion picture, radio, television, tape and sound recording, and other arts related to the presentation, performance, execution, and exhibition of these major art forms.

e) Historical Restoration and Preservation Activities that Directly Promote Tourism and the Hotel and Convention Industry: historical restoration and preservation projects or activities or advertising and conducting solicitation and promotional programs to encourage tourists and convention delegates to visit preserved historic sites or museums.

f) Sporting Event Expenses that Substantially Increase Economic Activity at Hotels: Expenses including promotional expenses, directly related to a sporting event in which the majority of participants are tourists. The event must substantially increase economic activity at hotels within the city or its vicinity.

g) Funding transportation systems for transporting tourists from hotels to and near the city to any of the following destinations:

1. the commercial center of the city;

2. a convention center in the city;

3. other hotels in or near the city; or

4. tourist attractions in or near the city.

The law specifically prohibits the use of the local hotel tax to cover the costs for general city transit costs to transport the general public.

h) Signage directing tourists to sights and attractions that are visited frequently by hotel guests in the municipality.