STRWATCH.AI / ID / Boise

Is a short-term rental legal in Boise, ID?

LIGHTLY REGULATED

Boise repealed its STR licensing ordinance effective May 18, 2026.

See permits and requirements

Sources checked9 open items listed below

Idaho Code 67-6539(2)(a) explicitly bars cities/counties from requiring owner-occupation, professional property management, extra insurance, inspections, additional parking, signage, night limits, proximity/density limits, or conditional-use permits for STRs in residential zones. Under 67-6539(3), a city may, by ordinance, require five safety items (smoke alarms in all sleeping areas, a fire extinguisher and CO detector on each floor, removable escape ladders for above-ground sleeping-area windows, occupancy limits per the international building codes' non-transient residential standard, and an emergency information handout); any post-repeal Boise adoption is unresolved. No universal numerical guest cap has been verified; applicable non-transient residential occupancy limits still govern. 'Short-term rental'/'vacation rental' is statutorily defined (Idaho Code 63-1803(4)) as a rental for a fee of 30 days or less; longer stays fall outside that statutory definition, without establishing an exemption from all taxes or property rules. The statutory definition excludes retail, restaurant, banquet, event-center and similar uses. Posted Boise residential-use section P(5) still forbids STR use of tiny homes on wheels and references repealed Chapter 22; its enforceability under current state preemption is unresolved. The code portal states currency through June 9, 2026, so later amendments and parcel-specific eligibility need review.

Permits and requirements

Idaho lodging tax permits Cost not verified
Idaho State Tax Commission
Apply through Idaho Business Registration for a regular seller’s permit, travel-and-convention permit and, inside GBAD, auditorium-district permit. No permits are needed if all lodging is booked through registered marketplaces that collect/remit every applicable tax; direct bookings or separately charged services not taxed by the marketplace require permits. Display the seller’s permit at the business; it is not transferable from a prior owner.
official source
Tax returns and remittance Cost not verified
Idaho State Tax Commission
Renewal: Assigned filing frequency; monthly returns due the following month’s 20th
File regular sales-tax returns in TAP (Form 850), travel-and-convention returns (Form 1152), and GBAD returns if applicable (Form 1250). File even with no sales while permits are active; do not report sales/taxes already reported by registered marketplaces. Sales-tax monthly deadlines move to the next workday for weekends/holidays; quarterly sales tax is due within 20 days after quarter end. Follow the assigned schedule for each tax. Sales tax uses accrual accounting: report the sale in its period even if the guest has not paid. Agency guidance assigns quarterly sales-tax filing below $750 per quarter; follow the assigned schedule. Twelve consecutive zero-sales months lead to permit cancellation, not permission to use that cancelled permit.
official source
Tax records and exemption documentation Cost not verified
Idaho State Tax Commission
Renewal: Retain sales/use-tax records and exemption certificates for four years
Keep receipts, invoices, contracts, returns, payments and exemption evidence; keep the lease and related records for continuous occupancy longer than 30 days. The agency recommends seven years if returns were not filed. Travel tax does not apply to continuous stays longer than 30 days in the same room or space; qualifying-government/organization lodging must be billed to and paid directly by the qualifying entity and supported by ST-104HM or ST-101; employee-paid lodging later reimbursed is taxable. For overpaid sales/use, travel or Tax Commission-administered auditorium taxes, Form TCR with supporting records is the refund process; claims must be complete within three years after payment. Refund denials may be protested in writing within 63 days from the Notice of Determination. Third-party rewards may require room tax on the free-room value; operator-run rewards may be untaxed when the operator documents the qualifying repeat-stay reward. Exempt-stay rewards require exemption documentation. Do not duplicate a seller's refund; repay the Commission if both refund the same tax. A request for more supporting information allows 30 days to respond.
official source

The full picture

Boise repealed its STR licensing ordinance effective May 18, 2026. Current Idaho Code 67-6539 bars local STR licenses and discriminatory restrictions, including owner-occupancy requirements and rental-night or density caps. STRs remain subject to ordinary non-transient residential zoning, building codes and nuisance rules; the absence of a license is not permission to disregard them. State law permits five specified local safety measures, but any post-repeal Boise adoption remains unresolved. Taxable lodging generally carries 6% Idaho sales tax and 2% travel tax, plus 5% within Greater Boise Auditorium District boundaries. Marketplaces have statutory collection duties for transactions they facilitate; direct-booking hosts must register and remit themselves. The posted residential-use code still prohibits STR use of tiny homes on wheels; compatibility with current state preemption and enforceability are unresolved.

Taxes on guests & hosts

TaxRateApplies toPlatform collectsOfficial source
Idaho Sales Tax 6% Taxable lodging of 30 days or less, including booking/reservation, pet, no-show, ordinary cleaning and taxable-room card convenience fees. Separately stated extraordinary cleaning or damage may be treated differently. Cancellation, parking and internet charges are not taxed under the agency's current common-charge table. Qualifying exemptions require documentation. Not verified source
Idaho Travel and Convention Tax 2% Occupants of hotel/motel rooms, vacation-home rentals, and private campgrounds for stays of 30 days or less. The common-charge table also taxes booking/reservation, pet, no-show, ordinary cleaning and taxable-room card convenience fees; separately stated extraordinary damage/cleaning may differ. Cancellation, parking and internet charges are not taxed. Confirm the particular fee and exemption rather than assuming every charge follows the room. Not verified source
Greater Boise Auditorium District (GBAD) Room Tax 5% Short-term lodging (30 days or less) at properties located within the Greater Boise Auditorium District boundaries. The common-charge table also taxes booking/reservation, pet, no-show, ordinary cleaning and taxable-room card convenience fees; separately stated extraordinary damage/cleaning may differ. Cancellation, parking and internet charges are not taxed. Confirm the particular fee and exemption rather than assuming every charge follows the room. Not verified source

Enforcement

PenaltiesBoise has repealed its former STR licensing ordinance. Idaho Code 67-6539(6) provides that STR properties, owners, and tenants are subject to the same county/city ordinances and penalties that apply to any other residential use, including noise, parking, nuisance, curfew, and traffic regulations — enforced through Boise's general municipal code rather than a dedicated STR ordinance. Idaho sales-tax filing penalties are 5% of unpaid tax per month up to 25%; late payment after filing is 0.5% per month up to 25%. Minimum penalty is $10 when tax is due, and overdue tax generally accrues interest at the applicable annual rate. For sales-tax deficiencies, §§63-3632 and 63-3045 calculate interest subject to statutory pauses during audit identification through deficiency notice and during a perfected protest through its final determination; interest does not apply to penalties or accrued interest. Boise noise violations are infractions under 5-7-7. Under 1-4-2, the scheduled fine governs; an unspecified infraction defaults to $100 plus court costs, and the maximum is $300 plus court costs (https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/boise_id/latest/boise/0-0-0-88). Specific scheduled noise, nuisance and parking amounts remain unresolved. Unless a different punishment is prescribed, Boise 1-4-1 misdemeanor violations carry up to $1,000 fine or six months in county jail, or both (https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/boise_id/latest/boise/0-0-0-85). Under 4-1-6, failure to abate most nuisances is a misdemeanor, with listed exceptions; not every nuisance or parking violation has this classification.
Platform liabilityCities and counties may not regulate the operation of a short-term rental marketplace (Idaho Code 67-6539(7)). Current Idaho Code 63-1804 requires a short-term rental marketplace to register with the Idaho State Tax Commission and to collect, report, and remit state sales tax, state travel and convention tax, and any applicable local-government taxes administered by the Tax Commission (e.g., GBAD) on transactions it facilitates; a marketplace new to Idaho has 45 days after its first Idaho transaction to come into compliance. A host who rents directly without a marketplace must independently register for and remit those same taxes.
NotesLocal governments are additionally barred from levying any sales, use, franchise, receipts, or similar tax/fee on the business of operating a short-term rental marketplace itself (Idaho Code 63-1804(1)). Boise 5-7-3 prohibits amplified sound plainly audible inside another residence or on a public street/right-of-way 100 feet from its source. Exceptions and current parking, trash, local-contact and exact occupancy standards remain unresolved. Sales-tax deficiency redetermination under §63-3631 follows §63-3045: ordinarily protest within 63 days after the notice is sent, and perfect an inadequate protest within 28 days of the corrective notice date. Sales-tax jeopardy assessments have the agency's separate 30-day protest route. The taxpayer can request an informal hearing and supply evidence; resale/exemption certificates supporting a sales-tax petition must reach the Commission within 90 days of the deficiency-notice date. After an adverse final decision, §63-3049 allows 91 days after receipt of notice for court/BTA review, with 20% security or an acceptable substitute; sales/use amounts over $25,000 must go to district court, not BTA. Confirm other tax-layer and remedy applicability promptly.

What we could not verify (9)

  • Specific dollar fine/penalty amounts for general Boise municipal-code violations (noise, nuisance, parking) that would apply to an STR as an ordinary residence were not verified — the official code portal (codelibrary.amlegal.com, Boise's municode host) returned an HTTP 403 bot-wall on every fetch attempt (direct WebFetch and curl with a browser user-agent), and no Wayback Machine snapshot exists for that page after the May 18, 2026 repeal date to check via that fallback either.
  • Could not directly inspect the current full text of Boise City Code Chapter 22 (Short-Term Rentals) to confirm exactly how the repeal was codified (e.g., whether the chapter was deleted outright or replaced with a reference to state law) — this profile relies on the City Clerk's official summary page (cityofboise.org) stating the license is 'no longer required' as of 2026-05-18, which is corroborated by the state statute change but is a summary, not the ordinance text itself.
  • Post-repeal safety-ordinance adoption, current ordinary residential zoning/occupancy standards, pending legislation/litigation and private HOA/lease restrictions have not been established. State preemption of city/county action does not itself verify private restrictions.
  • Named-platform remittance remains unresolved. Permit,filing,zero-return,records,qualifying-entity exemption documentation and general Tax Commission refund/protest procedures are supported. Individual transaction entitlement and private restrictions require review.
  • Tax permit costs and renewal cadence,and separate filing/recordkeeping costs,have not been established; null does not mean free.
  • Posted Boise code prohibits tiny-home-on-wheels STR use and references repealed Chapter22; conflict with current state preemption and enforceability remain unresolved. Portal currency is June9,2026; later amendments,local safety adoption,parking,trash,local-contact and exact occupancy requirements need review.
  • The statutory STR definition covers30daysorless,but a single duration exemption across all tax and property layers is not established; min_stay_exempt_days remains null.
  • Historical original needs_review access descriptions are retained verbatim for audit continuity. The code portal is now accessible; general misdemeanor/infraction penalties are recovered, but current scheduled noise/parking fines and complete repeal text remain unresolved.
  • General sales-tax protest, interest and judicial-review rules are documented, but separate travel/GBAD jeopardy and court-route applicability and all special remedies were not independently established. Confirm the notice-specific route; do not apply one deadline to every tax proceeding.

Sources

A markdown mirror of this page lives at /boise-id.md for AI tools and researchers.

STRWatch publishes educational information about short-term rental regulation, checked against the official sources linked above as of the date shown. It is not legal advice, and rules change — a city can move between the times we check it. For decisions with money at stake, confirm with the authority linked above or a local attorney.