Lodging tax reporting

Who must report

By law, cities, towns, and counties that levy a local tax on lodging must report how they spend or distribute the revenue. They must ensure the information is accurate.

The reporting system will open on January 1, 2027 for data about revenues and expenditures in 2026.

• Cities, towns, and counties do not need to report data for 2025. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) suspended that requirement in December 2025.

For updates, please check this page or sign up to receive email communications.

What we do with the information

State law requires us to collect the data. We compile the information into a report and present it to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) each year.

Read the most recent report (2024). Contact us for archived reports.

Learn more

• Send questions to JLARClodgingtax@leg.wa.gov
• Subscribe to the GovDelivery email list

How to report

1. Go to the reporting system.
2. Log in with your Washington State Legislature (WSL) public account. If you don’t have one, choose “Sign up now."
3. If you’re logging in for the first time, create a JLARC Profile with your name, email, phone number, job title, and municipality. Then click Register.
4. If your municipality did not spend lodging tax in the last year, click the “Record no expenditures” button. Follow the prompts and save.
5. If your municipality did spend lodging tax in the last year, click the “Add new expenditure report” button.
   1. Fill out an expenditure report for each activity funded by lodging tax revenue.
   2. Refer to the data field descriptions as needed.
   3. After you complete the form, chose either Save or Save & Send Email.
6. If needed, view, edit, and delete your reports any time before the system closes for the year.

Download a PDF with these instructions and screenshots of relevant screens. (Instructions - PDF 851 KB)