Does our HOA have to collect sales tax on guest passes, amenity fees and clubhouse rentals?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 27, 2026

When an HOA owes sales tax on guest passes, amenity fees, clubhouse rentals and snack sales, with Texas, Florida and Colorado rules and a treasurer checklist.

Part of the HOA board handbook: treasurer and money.

The short answer

Regular assessments that every owner must pay are almost never subject to sales tax. The extras are where boards get caught: guest passes, pool memberships sold to people outside the community, court or simulator fees, a golf cart rental, tables and chairs rented with the clubhouse, and the snack cooler at the pool. Texas, Florida and Colorado treat those charges three different ways. This guide is education for treasurers, not tax or legal advice. Rules vary by state and city, and your declaration decides which charges are mandatory and which are optional, which matters a lot in Florida. Have your CPA confirm the treatment before you change your fee schedule.

Sort every charge into four buckets

Pull last year's general ledger and list every dollar that came in from something other than regular assessments. Then put each line in one bucket: - Mandatory assessments: regular dues and special assessments every owner owes because they own a lot or unit. - Optional recreation charges: guest passes, day passes, nonresident memberships, court reservation fees, fitness room fees, golf or simulator fees. - Rentals of space: the clubhouse for a birthday party, a pavilion, a boat slip, a reserved parking or RV space, a guest suite. - Goods and equipment: snacks, drinks, logo shirts, pool keys sold at a markup, and rentals of carts, kayaks, tables, chairs or a sound system. The buckets matter because state tax laws are written around them. A state can exempt the first bucket, tax the second, ignore the third and tax the fourth, and that is roughly what Florida does. In a typical small association nearly all the money sits in the first bucket. The work is in the smaller amounts in the other three.

Texas: amusement charges are usually exempt, equipment rentals are not

Texas taxes amusement services, which Tax Code section 151.0028 defines as amusement, entertainment or recreation, including membership in a private club or organization that provides recreational facilities to its members. Pool fees and guest passes fit that definition. The relief is in section 151.3101(a)(3): amusement services are exempt when provided exclusively by a nonprofit corporation or association, other than a 501(c)(7) social club, if the proceeds do not go to the benefit of an individual. A nonprofit HOA that runs its own pool and courts and puts the guest fees back into the operating account usually fits. If a private club or concession company runs the amenity and sets the fees, that operator's charges are a separate question. Equipment is different. Section 151.005 counts the lease or rental of tangible personal property as a sale, so golf carts, kayaks, folding tables and a rented speaker are taxable at the state rate of 6.25% plus any local tax. Room rental itself is not one of the taxable services listed in section 151.0101. Snacks and shirts are sales of goods. On the buying side, Texas is stricter than most boards expect. The Comptroller says an HOA qualifies for the sales tax exemption on purchases only if it is exempt under IRC 501(c)(3), (4), (8), (10) or (19). An association that files Form 1120-H is not one of those, so it pays sales tax on taxable purchases even though it may qualify for the separate franchise tax exemption through Form AP-206.

Florida: optional recreation fees are taxable admissions

Florida's admissions tax is 6% under section 212.04(1)(b), plus any county surtax. Section 212.02(1) defines admissions to include all dues and fees paid to membership clubs that provide recreational facilities such as golf, tennis, swimming, boating and fitness. Rule 12A-1.005(4)(d)3 says mandatory dues and fees paid to a condominium, homeowners' or cooperative association are not taxable when they are required as a condition of owning or occupying the property and the facilities are part of the common elements or common areas. Optional charges fall outside that carve-out. The same rule, at (4)(c)1 and (4)(c)4, lists user fees paid by members or nonmembers for the use of recreational facilities, and any payment a nonmember must make to use them, as taxable. A $10 guest pass, a summer pool membership sold to a family outside the community and a per-hour court fee are the charges to look at first. The 501(c)(3) exemption in section 212.04(2)(a)2 rarely helps, because few HOAs hold that status. Rentals got simpler. The tax on commercial rent under section 212.031 was repealed effective October 1, 2025, and the Department's TIP 25A01-04 confirms that no state tax or surtax applies to rent or license fees for rental periods starting on or after that date. Clubhouse party rentals are now untaxed at the state level. The TIP lists what is still taxed under section 212.03: parking or storage spaces for motor vehicles in lots or garages, boat docking or storage spaces, and living accommodations rented for six months or less. A condo that rents out a guest suite overnight or leases boat slips should ask its CPA how those rules apply to it.

Colorado: goods at the state level, then check the city

Colorado's state sales tax is 2.9% under C.R.S. 39-26-106, and section 39-26-104 applies it to retail sales of tangible personal property and a short list of other items. For most HOAs the state question comes down to goods: the snack bar, logo merchandise and any equipment the association sells. Pool passes and court fees are not on the state's list. The city is the harder half. Colorado has dozens of home-rule cities that write and collect their own sales tax, and their tax base can be broader than the state's. The Department of Revenue tells taxpayers to get the rules for a self-collecting jurisdiction from that city directly. If your community sits inside one, call the city's sales tax office and keep a note of the answer. One more Colorado trap: an event where more than three sellers make retail sales at a location other than their usual business, held no more than three times a year at that location, is a special sales event. Sellers need a special event license, or the organizer can hold one and collect for them. A holiday market on the common area is the usual way an HOA runs into this.

Steps for the treasurer this quarter

1. Build the four-bucket list from last year's ledger and this year's fee schedule. Include charges the management company or a volunteer collects in cash. 2. Read the declaration and the amenity rules for each charge. In Florida especially, write down whether the governing documents make it mandatory for all owners or optional. 3. Match each optional charge, rental and sale to your state's rule above. Mark anything unclear. 4. Take the unclear items to your CPA. If the dollars are meaningful, ask the state for written guidance: Texas issues private letter rulings and Florida issues technical assistance advisements. A ruling binds only the taxpayer who asked, so get your own rather than relying on a neighbor's. 5. If any charge is taxable, register with the state (and city, in a home-rule Colorado city) before you start collecting. Collecting tax without a permit and keeping it is worse than not collecting it. 6. Record tax collected in a sales tax payable account, not in income, and calendar the filing dates. 7. Update the fee schedule so taxable items say "plus applicable sales tax" and the rest say nothing at all. A reasonable timeline: list and document review in month one, CPA review in month two, registration and the new fee schedule adopted at the next board meeting.

Wording the board can use

A motion to start the review: "Moved that the treasurer prepare, by March 1, a list of every fee, rental and sale the association collected in the past year, with its sales tax treatment under state and local law, reviewed by the association's CPA, and present any needed registration or fee schedule changes at the April board meeting." A line for the fee schedule once the answer is settled: "Guest passes: $10 per person per day. Clubhouse rental: $150 per event, plus a $200 refundable deposit. Table and chair package: $40 plus applicable sales tax. Fees are set by board resolution and reviewed each January." If a new tax line is coming, put one paragraph in the annual meeting packet first: what is taxed, from what date, and that regular assessments are not affected.

Mistakes boards make

Assuming nonprofit means tax-exempt for everything. In Texas a nonprofit HOA can be exempt from tax on its pool fees and still owe tax on what it buys, because the purchase exemption depends on 501(c) status, not nonprofit status. Lumping guest fees into assessment income. Once optional fees sit in the same ledger line as dues, nobody can show an auditor which dollars were exempt. Give each fee its own income account. Keeping an old tax line after the law changed. A Florida association still adding 2% to clubhouse rentals after October 1, 2025 is collecting a tax that no longer exists. Letting vendors decide. A food truck or a kayak concession on the common area may owe its own tax, and the contract with the association should say the vendor collects and remits it. Related reading: our guide on how to write an HOA clubhouse rental policy covers deposits and damage rules, and our guide on whether an HOA has to file a tax return explains how fee income affects Form 1120-H.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

More on rentals & neighbors

Or browse all rentals, tenants & neighbors guides.