The calculator
On your DoT return
- Nights
- 5
- Room rate per night
- US$250.00
- Total paid for roomnights × rate
- US$1,250.00
- Total billroom + cleaning + tax
- US$1,400.00
- Tourist or Local
- Tourist
- Tax due to DoT13% of room
- US$162.50
You have collected US$0.00 of the tax. To pass the full 13% on, request US$162.50 from the guest. Either way you owe DoT US$162.50.
Total bill uses what the guest paid, before Airbnb's fees - not your payout.
"Tax charged on top" is any tax the guest paid separately - a tax line on your listing, or money you requested after booking. Leave it at zero if you have not charged the tax yet. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
How the figures are worked out
The tax is 13% of the room charge - nights × nightly room rate - and nothing else. DoT calculates it on the gross room rate, before your costs, so Airbnb's host fee, cleaning and utilities do not reduce it.
| On the DoT form | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Room rate per night | The nightly price, or the price ÷ 1.13 if it already includes the tax |
| Total paid for room | Nights × room rate |
| Tax | 13% of the total paid for room; $0 for a local or resident guest |
| Total bill | What the guest was billed: room + cleaning + any tax charged, before Airbnb's fees |
The total bill is not your payout. Your payout is after Airbnb's host fee; the total bill is what the stay cost the guest before Airbnb's fees. A stay goes on the return for the month the guest checks out - add the dates to see which return and its deadline.
Tourist or local guest?
Check this for every stay. The tax applies to tourists - people not ordinarily resident in the Cayman Islands. A Caymanian or a local resident who stays at the property is exempt, but only with proof. Acceptable proof includes:
- a Caymanian passport;
- a passport with a permit stamp, or a permit letter with photo ID;
- a voter's card;
- a birth certificate with photo ID.
Keep a copy with your records and tick Local/Resident for that stay on the return. Two cases catch hosts out:
- A Caymanian pays, a visitor stays. The exemption follows the person staying, so the tax applies.
- Non-paying guests - friends, family, charity or prize stays - can be left out, again with proof.
The resident exemption guide covers the rules in more detail.
Collecting the tax through Airbnb
Airbnb does not collect the Cayman tax - the Cayman Islands is not on its list of places where it collects occupancy tax. If you want the guest to bear the 13%, you add it yourself. Airbnb's manual tax collection page lists the ways a host can do that:
- Add a tax to the listing, where Airbnb offers it for your area - set 13%, percentage per booking, on the base price only (see adding taxes to a listing).
- Include the tax in a special offer for a stay booked by inquiry.
- Request it through the Resolution Centre after check-in.
Airbnb says you must tell guests the exact tax amount before they book, and that it cannot help with manual collection. Many hosts skip all three and simply build the 13% into the nightly price - see tax-inclusive prices below. The guide to charging the tax to guests compares the options.
Requesting the tax after booking
If a guest booked without the tax, Airbnb's Resolution Centre lets you request money once the stay has started. On desktop: open the Resolution Centre, choose Request money, pick the reservation and the reason, enter the amount, add a note, then review and send. Requests can be made up to 60 days after the reservation ends.
The right amount to request:
- 13% of nights × nightly rate - for 5 nights at US$250, that is 13% of US$1,250, or US$162.50.
- Not 13% of the cleaning fee, Airbnb's guest service fee or the guest's total.
- Nothing for a local or resident guest with proof.
The calculator shows this as the amount still to collect. Say in your listing description that the 13% tax is charged on top, so the request is not a surprise - the guest can decline, and you owe DoT the tax either way.
Local guests who booked on Airbnb
Airbnb does not know who is Caymanian or resident, so a listing tax line charges every guest. When a guest tells you they are local:
- Ask for proof before or at check-in, and keep a copy.
- If they paid a tax line or a tax you requested, send that amount back through the Resolution Centre - you owe DoT nothing for the stay.
- If your price includes the 13%, you can refund the tax part. If you refund it, enter the refunded nightly price as the room rate; if you do not, the whole price is room revenue and the tax is still $0.
- Tick Local/Resident for the stay on the return.
Tax-inclusive prices
If your nightly price already includes the tax, tick the box in the calculator. The room rate on the form becomes the price ÷ 1.13, so the tax column equals what you collected: a US$282.50 price is a US$250.00 room rate and US$32.50 tax. Writing the full price as the room rate would make you pay 13% on the tax as well.
Putting it on the return
Each stay is one row on DoT's form. The column-by-column guide to the form shows where every figure goes, the deadlines calendar lists each due date, and the Tourist Accommodation Tax guide covers the rules. Hosts.ky does this for every stay in the month, from your Airbnb calendar and earnings file, and produces the finished return.