How to set up the ACT Short Stay Levy

ACT Government Short Stay Levy – Effective 1 July 2025
The Short-Term Rental Accommodation Levy applies to booking service providers who make, arrange or facilitate short-term rental accommodation bookings in the ACT. Direct bookings with an owner or occupier are not subject to the levy.

The levy applies to bookings that are not more than 28 continuous days (not including checkout day). The levy does not apply to bookings of 28 days or more. For example, a booking from 10 September to 20 September is a 10 day (or 10 night) booking.

The levy is 5% of the total booking amount paid (or payable) by the guest. This amount includes booking fees and taxes. It does not include credit card fees or refunds.

Bookings made from 1 July 2025 are subject to the levy. Bookings made before 1 July 2025 for stays after this date are not subject to the levy.

For the latest updates from the State Revenue Office and OTA's, please refer to the articles below:

• ACT State Revenue Office: https://www.revenue.act.gov.au/levies/short-term-rental-accommodation-levy
• Tax collection and remittance by Airbnb in Australia: https://www.airbnb.com.au/help/article/3819
• Booking.com: Understanding short-stay levies in Australia

Who pays the levy – the property manager or OTA?

• Homhero Direct, Website, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy and StayMakers Reservations:
  The levy must be managed and applied through Homhero.
• Airbnb: Airbnb will handle and pay the levy on your behalf.
• Booking.com Reservations: Booking.com will fund and remit the levy on your behalf until November 30th 2025. From the December 1 2025, the levy must be managed and applied through Homhero. 
  
  Our new levy charging solution
  Until now, we’ve been covering the levy for you and paying it to the local tax authorities while we’ve been preparing a permanent solution. That solution is now ready, and we’ll begin using it for reservations made on or after 1 December 2025 with a check-out date on or after 1 March 2026. Here’s how it will work:
  
  For reservations paid through Payments by Booking.com, where we collect payments from guests on your behalf and pay them out to you by bank transfer with our commission already deducted.
  We'll deduct the amount of the levy from your payouts, so you won't have to pay it separately.
  
  For all other reservations
  We’ll send you a payment request for the amount of the levy each month, alongside your regular commission invoice. You’ll need to pay this separately via your usual commission invoice payment method.
  
  Either way, we’ll then pay the levy directly to the local tax authorities. We won’t charge you for any levy amounts we’ve paid before this change.
• Vrbo Reservations: Vrbo will handle and pay the levy on your behalf.

How to set up the short stay levy in Homhero
For reservations made via your website, direct bookings, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy and StayMakers, you must configure a Homhero package to apply the short stay levy. This setup must be completed before 1 July 2025 to ensure the levy is correctly applied to eligible bookings.

For Booking.com - From 1st December 2025 you must configure a Homhero package to apply the short stay levy.

Before configuring the levy in Homhero, you need to:

• Create a GL Account Code in RMS.
• Set up a Sundry in RMS.

Step 1. Set up a GL Account Code (RMS)
If you have already setup a General Ledger Account Code for the Short Stay Levy, you can skip this step.

To create a New General Ledger Account Code for the Short Stay Levy, please follow the below steps:

1. Search and open GL Acc Codes from the RMS Search Menu, then select Add
2. Enter the GL Acc Code.
3. Enter a Description.
4. Click Save & Exit.
   
   

Step 2. Set up a Sundry (RMS)
If you have already setup a Sundry Charge for the Short Stay Levy, you can skip this step.

To create a New Sundry, please follow the below steps:

1. Search and open Sundry from the RMS Search Menu, then select Add.
2. Enter a Description.
3. Select the GL Acc Code created in Step 1.
4. Set GST Type to GST Free.
5. Click Save & Exit.
   
   

Step 3. Sync Sundry from RMS (Homhero)
To sync the new sundry from RMS to Homhero, please follow the below steps:

• Click Settings > General Settings from the Homhero side menu
• Click Sundries
• Click Sync From RMS to bring the Short Stay Levy into Homhero.
  
  

Step 4. Set up a Package (Homhero)
To setup a New levy package in Homhero, please follow the below steps:

• Click Booking Engine > Packages from the Homhero side menu.
• Click Add.
  
  Package Tab

1. Active Toggle - Ensure it is ON.
2. Package Name - Enter a package name e.g. "Short Stay Levy".
   If you have multiple ACT Levy packages set up per OTA, you can name them accordingly, such as:
   - Short Stay Levy
   - Booking.com Short Stay Levy
3. Description - Add a description (visible only on your website, not in templates).
4. Guest Mandatory - Turn ON.
5. Apply to all Listings - Turn ON if all listings in your account are located in ACT.
6. Apply to Listings - Set specific listings that are located in ACT.
7. Days of the Week - Select all days.
8. Validate On - Set to Arrival.
9. Max Nights - Set to 27.
10. Valid to use from (date) - For the initial Short Stay Levy package, you would set this to 1 July 2025. 
    
    Booking.com
    For the additional Booking.com ACT Levy Package, you would set this Validate on Departure, Valid to use from 1 December 2025, and only bookings staying from 1 March 2026.
    
    
11. Valid to use from (time) - Defaults to 00:00 AM
12. Package Type - Select Per Booking.
13. Amount - Set to 5.26%. This is because the 5% levy will be calculated on the the booking total (including the levy). Example provided in screenshot below.
14. Amount Type - Select % Percent.
15. Calculate On - Select Tax. This new setting calculates the package based on the final total and should only be used for tax packages. If you have multiple packages set to "Booking Total" (e.g. Beyond Pricing Commission), you’ll need to set the ACT levy to "Tax" to avoid any pricing calculation issues.
16. Itemised 
    - Turn ON to make the levy visible to the guest (only applicable for website reservations).
    - Leave OFF to include the levy in the total without being visible to the guest.
17. RMS Sundry Link - Select the Sundry created in Step 2.
    
    
     

OTA Options Tab

1. Website - Turn ON.
2. Direct - Turn ON.
3. Airbnb - Turn OFF.
4. VRBO - Turn OFF.  
5. Booking.com - Turn OFF.
6. StayMakers - Turn ON.
7. HVMB - Turn ON.
8. Click Save
   
   Short Stay Levy Package
   
   
   Booking.com ACT Levy Package - Turn ON for new Booking.com ACT Levy package.
   
   We recommend creating a new ACT Levy package specifically for Booking.com reservations made on or after December 1st onwards, as the initial ACT Levy package started on January 1st 2025. If you apply Booking.com under the existing ACT levy packages, it will affect all bookings made from that activation point. All other package details will stay the same, but you should disable all OTA options except Booking.com.
   
   

How to Report on the Short Stay Levy (RMS)
The following reports can be used to track the levy charges:

• General Transfers (Trust Accounting):
  The levy appears in the General Transfers utility for processing in trust accounting properties.
• Cash/Charge Report:
  If the levy uses a unique GL Account Code, this report provides a total of all charges applied to that account. You can also drill down to view individual transactions.
• Sundry Usage Report:
  This report itemises individual transactions associated with the levy’s Sundry Charge.

For any further assistance, please contact Homhero Support.