Indiana Airbnb laws: permits, local exceptions & booking taxes

Is Airbnb legal in Indiana?

Where IC 36-1-24 applies, renting an owner’s primary residence short term is a permitted residential use in a district that allows residential use. A separate investment property can face a special exception, special use or zoning variance; the chapter limits using that review to prohibit or unreasonably restrict the rental.

The chapter also allows local permits and specified safety, nuisance and other rules. Its current 2026 text includes providing an emergency contact. Its definition concerns stays of less than 30 days through a qualifying rental platform, so do not automatically extend every provision to a different booking arrangement.

Source: IC 36-1-24, §§1, 6–11 (2026 edition). For the parcel, ask the planning office which ordinance applies, its adoption history, and how your proposed use is classified. State the stay length, whether you live there, the units and intended guest capacity.

Indianapolis: annual permits, without an annual permit fee

The city’s Short-Term Rental Permit Program took effect January 1, 2025. Its instructions call for an annual permit for each short-term rental unit, with a $150 initial fee and no renewal fee. Free renewal still means renewing; record the expiration date when the permit arrives.

Source: Indianapolis Landlord and Short-Term Rental Registries, checked October 18, 2026.

Prepare the owner and property-manager contact information, dwelling type and advertised occupancy. The ordinance requires a legally built dwelling meeting applicable building codes and says an inspection may be required. Resolve an undocumented conversion or accessory unit before building a revenue forecast around it.

Source: G.O. 25, 2024, establishing Chapter 852. A permit fee is not a budget for building repairs or other approvals.

Multiple units or an Indianapolis mailing address? Ask Business and Neighborhood Services to confirm jurisdiction and the application count. The city describes per-unit permitting, while state §11 describes a property permit covering its dwelling units and accessory structures. Get a written answer for a duplex or house-plus-guesthouse rather than assuming either one payment or two.

State permit scope, §11 · City program instructions.

Fishers: the long-term rental cap is a different rule

Fishers’ rental-registration FAQ explicitly says its long-term rental ordinance does not apply to short-term rentals. It directs STR readers to Unified Development Ordinance §5.4.6(D). Do not apply the program’s 10% subdivision rental cap to an Airbnb just because a search result says “Fishers rental restrictions.”

Source: Fishers rental registration and permitting FAQ, checked October 18, 2026. The exclusion from that program does not establish that a particular STR needs no approvals.

Describe your actual arrangement to the city: occasional use of your home, a dedicated vacation rental, or a longer-term lease. If you intend to switch between them, ask about both uses. Save the applicable ordinance reference with the response so a later change in the business model does not silently invalidate the answer.

Buying an existing Airbnb: what carries over?

Under the state chapter, a short-term rental permit does not transfer to a new owner. The buyer applies for a new permit. The chapter also leaves properly enacted homeowners, condominium, lake-owner and similar association restrictions intact.

Source: IC 36-1-24, §§17 and 19, subject to the applicability exception described above.

Request the existing permit and zoning determination, then ask the issuing authority what your ownership change requires. Obtain the recorded covenants and current association rental rules separately. A seller’s active listing, excellent reviews or tax receipts cannot establish that your proposed operation is permitted.

Keep three separate records in the purchase file: public approvals, private restrictions and the insurer’s confirmation of coverage for the actual use. For a cottage with extra sleeping space, reconcile the advertised capacity with the building and any septic documentation before using that capacity in your offer calculations.

Who collects the tax depends on the booking channel

Indiana sales tax is 7%. County innkeeper’s tax can add another charge. DOR’s current table lists Marion at 10% and Monroe at 5%; those are county examples, not a statewide combined rate.

Do not remit a second copy of tax already properly remitted by the facilitator. Reconcile each channel’s statement first. DOR says sellers operating exclusively through collecting facilitators need not register to collect sales tax; existing accounts and mixed direct sales require a separate filing check. That state sales-tax rule does not resolve local permits.

DOR registration and marketplace-sales reporting instructions.

A $600 Marion County booking is not $702 of rental income

If a platform collects the guest’s tax, your payout may never include that $102. Keep the guest charge, platform-held tax and net payout in different columns. Otherwise, importing a guest receipt as revenue can overstate income, while treating withheld tax as an operating expense can distort your cost comparison.

Exactly 30 days and occasional rentals need a closer look

DOR’s lodging guidance treats stays of 30 or more consecutive days differently from shorter stays. Billing matters: when billed more frequently than monthly, tax is collected for the first 29 days and refunded when the stay reaches 30. Do not simply remove tax because a guest says they might extend.

The occasional-rental exception is narrow. Bulletin 41 includes primary-residence, current/prior-year rental-day and federal requirements, and excludes payments through a marketplace facilitator. “I only use Airbnb for two weekends” is not enough to establish this exemption.

Source: Sales Tax Bulletin 41, March 2024, lodging and casual-renter sections. Keep the original booking, extensions, billing dates and any tax adjustment together. Tax duration rules do not determine zoning, lease rights or every local license requirement.

Download the Indiana booking reconciliation ledger

Use one row per booking, then total by tax period, county and channel. The CSV includes the $600 Marion illustration and a blank row; replace the example before using your own totals.

1. Identify the stay: internal booking reference, county, arrival/departure dates and channel. Avoid putting guest identity or payment-card details in this worksheet.
2. Separate the amounts: taxable base, rates, guest taxes, fees, refund adjustments and actual payout. A bank deposit alone does not show what the guest paid.
3. Identify the collector: host or facilitator for each tax, plus the agency receiving it. Save the statement or filing reference.
4. Close the gap: mark missing remittance evidence, an uncertain fee classification or a stay extension for follow-up before filing.

Original RentalCalcs worksheet. No account or email required. This is a recordkeeping template, not an automatic tax calculator or filing service; it does not determine exemptions.

Budget event weekends separately from ordinary nights

A strong event booking does not establish a year-round average. For an Indianapolis property, separate the weekends you expect to price differently from ordinary weekdays and weekends. Record available nights after owner use, expected booked nights and the evidence behind each rate assumption.

Then test losing the event booking entirely. Keep mortgage, insurance, utilities and other fixed costs in the model while reducing booked nights. Add turnover costs per stay, not merely per month: ten two-night reservations can require more cleaning visits than one twenty-night reservation.

Compare lodging revenue after channel fees and operating costs with a longer-term rental alternative using the single-family rental calculator. Enter the expenses for each operating model separately. Neither a local permit nor the example above establishes demand, occupancy or investment returns.

Indiana hosting questions & local guide

Continue to the Indianapolis city guide or compare other states. The city page has its own review date; this review covers the state guide and selected local examples.

Primary sources are linked beside material claims. Current agency pages and the 2026 Indiana Code were checked October 18, 2026; the review date is not an ordinance effective date. General information, not a legal or tax determination for a particular property.