Permit, License & Lodging Tax Tracker
Tracks permits, renewals and inspections in one workbook, then maps the state, county and city lodging taxes charged on every night you sell. You know what Airbnb collects and what you still file yourself.
A permit lapses quietly. The four-figure fine and the pulled listing do not
Cities have spent the last two years tightening short-term rental rules: permit numbers in listings, night caps, inspections, renewal deadlines. Delisting and four-figure fines follow a lapse. Meanwhile lodging tax is layered (state, county, city), and platforms often collect some of it while you're still on the hook to register and file the rest. None of this is hard; all of it is easy to forget.
This workbook is your one-property-or-five compliance department: a register for every permit and license with renewal countdowns, an inspection and insurance log, a night-cap usage counter, and a lodging tax mapper that records who collects what on each channel and when filings are due.
Written by Eric, who founded a vacation rental company in 2004 and spent close to a decade deep cleaning rentals somebody else had already called clean.
What is inside: all 7 parts
This is the complete contents list, not a highlights reel. Every line below is a part of the file that is already written and already laid out. The calculations are already in the cells. You type numbers, not formulas, in Excel, Google Sheets, or LibreOffice.
- Permit & license register: numbers, issue/renewal dates, countdown flags
- Inspection log and insurance policy renewal tracker
- Night-cap / occupancy-limit usage counter (for capped jurisdictions)
- Lodging tax jurisdiction map: state, county, city layers and rates
- Platform-collects vs. you-remit matrix per channel (Airbnb, Vrbo, direct)
- Filing calendar with due dates and frequency
- New-market research worksheet: what to ask the city before you list
What it replaces
the work it removes- A blank document and every decision inside it. Somebody has to work out what belongs in each of those 7 parts, write the wording, and lay it out, 7 times over. That is the part already done.
- A generic small-business template with the word "property" pasted over it. It was written against one problem: A permit lapses quietly. The four-figure fine and the pulled listing do not.
- Version chasing. If the file gets revised, the new one is a free re-download, not a second purchase.
- A subscription. It is an XLSX file you keep. Nothing logs in, nothing syncs, and nothing stops working when a card expires.
When not to buy this
said plainly- If what you want is software that runs itself, this isn't it and never claimed to be. It's an XLSX file you open, edit, and own. No app, nothing to log into.
- Already have a version of this written down, with a team that follows it? Keep it. Swapping a working system for a stranger's is a downgrade.
- The writing is done. Filling in your codes, your local numbers and your house rules is still on you.
- You have not read one of these yet. 9 of the 35 files download with no account and no email address. Take one of those first and judge the writing before you spend $49 USD.
There is no buy button for this one file. I would rather say so than print a price you cannot pay.
The 26 Pro toolkits are sold as one thing. One payment of $49 USD opens all of them. This file does not sell on its own, so there is no separate price to quote for it. What I will stand behind is a count: 26 files, 168 written parts between them. Every toolkit is named on the pricing page before you decide. Anything added to the library later is included, and nothing renews.
Three more that sit next to this one
Same category first, meaning Operations & Setup, then the library's featured picks if the shelf runs short. Free ones download without an account; Pro ones come with the $49 USD All-Access Pass.
PDFFreeVacation Rental Startup Checklist
Takes you from "thinking about it" to your first guest in five ordered phases: zoning and permits, insurance and money, property setup, listing launch, then day-to-day operations.
WORD ProOperations Manual Template (SOP Binder)
Write the whole operation down once: vendor numbers, access codes, the turnover steps, and what to do about a lockout or no hot water. Then someone else can run the place for a week.
PDFFreeThe Host Tool-Stack Decision Guide
Sorts out what software a one-to-five property operation actually needs and in what order: calendar sync, messaging, pricing, cleaning, direct booking. It also names which subscriptions you can skip.