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South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT: a register that is not law yet, permits, and a platform levy
Sergej Sitki · founder of ReceptionGO and host
Published 31 October 2026 · 8 min read
General information, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Check your own case with your council, the ATO or the state revenue office, or an accountant. Rates and dates below were checked on the date shown — recheck the linked official page before you lodge, register or set a price from them.
On 22 October 2026 South Australia had no short-stay register in force. Its consultation closed on 30 October 2026. Tasmania uses planning permits and platform reporting. The ACT charges platforms 5% on bookings made from 1 July 2025, rising to 7.5% from 1 July 2027. Direct bookings there are not levied.
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These three get bundled in national round-ups and then skimmed. They should not be. Adelaide in Mad March, a shack on the Tasman Peninsula and a Canberra apartment in a sitting week do not share a rulebook. One of them is waiting on a register. One of them already runs on planning permits and platform reporting. One of them has a levy with a date on it.
South Australia: designed, not switched on
On 22 October 2026 the YourSAy page for a Short Stay Accommodation Register was still an open consultation. Consumer and Business Services opened it at 9.30am on 17 September 2026 and set the close at 5pm on Friday 30 October 2026. The background is a 2025 parliamentary select committee, which said the state had no reliable count of short-stay properties, heard the housing argument, and also heard the tourism argument — the state’s visitor-economy target is quoted on that page as $12.8 billion by 2030. The committee recommended a register. CBS asked the public whether it should be public, which properties belong on it, who should run it, and whether one code of conduct should cover every property.
What the page does not do is impose a duty. There is no fee, no portal and no penalty in that consultation. Submissions go to [email protected], and CBS said it would publish updates as decisions are made. This article is queued to appear after 30 October. If you are reading it later, the honest next step is the same YourSAy URL: either the consultation is “under review”, or a model has been announced. Do not invent a start date from a Facebook comment in the meantime.
Until a register exists, an Adelaide terrace, a Barossa cottage or a place on the Fleurieu is still subject to the council’s planning rules and to any strata or community-corporation rule. “No register” has never meant “no one can complain”.
Tasmania: the permit is the rule
The Short Stay Accommodation Act 2019 is in force. It is aimed at premises in residential-type zones, and it excludes premises built or renovated as a hotel, motel or caravan park. Booking platforms have to collect information — permit or exemption, address, bedrooms, whether it is a primary residence — so councils can enforce planning permits. It is a reporting Act, not a licence you buy from a single state counter.
CBOS tells anyone about to list on Airbnb or Stayz to check whether a planning permit is required, to use the self-assessment material, and to talk to a building surveyor once the building is over 200 square metres. The City of Hobart is specific: visitor accommodation is the planning name for what guests call an Airbnb, differential rates apply once you hold a permit, and a strata scheme’s rules are a separate question from the planning application. A visitor management plan is commonly conditioned on permits for strata lots and for buildings over 200 square metres. The season, and how Hobart actually fills, is in Hobart and Tasmania holiday rentals.
A 5% levy was government policy and then, according to secondary reports, defeated in the Legislative Council on 9 September 2026. We are not citing that vote as a section of an Act. Before you put “no Tasmanian levy” in a guest email, check the Parliament of Tasmania and Treasury. If a bill returns, it will not look exactly like Victoria’s 7.5%, and it is a mistake to price as if it already has.
The ACT: a levy on the platform, with a step-up in 2027
The Short-Term Rental Accommodation Levy Act 2025 imposes the levy on a booking made using a booking service. The Revenue Office is clear about the person who pays: the booking service provider. A direct booking with an owner or occupier is not subject to the levy. That single sentence is why a Canberra host who moves regulars onto a direct page changes the levy position, not just the commission. It is also why the direct page has to be a real booking, with availability that matches Airbnb, or you have sold a week you cannot honour. See direct bookings.
| What the Revenue Office says | |
|---|---|
| Rate now | 5% of the total booking amount |
| Rate from 1 July 2027 | 7.5%. The Act uses the rate on the day the rental period ends |
| Which bookings | Made from 1 July 2025, not more than 28 continuous days, checkout day not counted |
| In the amount | Accommodation, cleaning, extra beds, pets, late checkout, GST. Card fees are out. Refunds come off |
| Who lodges | The platform, quarterly, within 30 days of the quarter in which the stay ends |
If you only use platforms, you do not lodge this levy yourself. If a platform asks whether the premises are excluded, answer from the current Revenue Office list, not from the March 2025 press release alone. Hosted rooms and hotels were described as outside the levy when the Bill was introduced. Confirm the list you are relying on.
There is no ACT night cap sitting next to the levy, and no host registration number of the NSW kind.
What to do this month
- South Australia: read the YourSAy outcome when it is posted. Keep a clean list of properties and nights so a register, if it comes, is a form and not an archaeology project.
- Tasmania: permit or a documented exemption, the details your platform will ask for under the 2019 Act, and a check of Hobart’s rating category if the property is in the city.
- ACT: know which bookings are platform bookings. Price the 7.5% into stays that end on or after 1 July 2027, because the rate follows the end of the stay.
The rest of the country is in short-term rental laws by state. Income tax and GST do not wait for a state register — they are in GST and tax on holiday rentals.
Frequently asked questions
Is the South Australian short-stay register live?
Not on 22 October 2026. YourSAy shows a consultation opened by Consumer and Business Services at 9.30am on 17 September 2026 and closing at 5pm on 30 October 2026. The discussion covered whether a register should be public, which properties are in, who oversees it, and whether a code of conduct should apply. No fee, no start date and no penalty schedule had been set on that page. Recheck YourSAy and CBS before you tell an owner they must register — this guide is published after the consultation closes, and the outcome may have moved.
Does Tasmania have a short-stay levy?
Not one that was in force when we checked. A levy had been proposed. Secondary reports said the Legislative Council voted a 5% bill down on 9 September 2026. We did not treat a news summary as an Act. Confirm the bill’s status on the Parliament of Tasmania website before you promise a guest there is no levy.
Do I need a permit for a Tasmanian shack?
Usually yes if the whole home is visitor accommodation and it is not the home-sharing exemption. CBOS tells you to check the planning permit, use the state’s self-assessment form, and speak to a building surveyor if the building is over 200 square metres because the use classification may have to change. Home sharing — letting your own home while you are away, or hosting in a limited number of rooms while you live there — is the situation councils describe as exempt. Confirm the current exemption on the planning fact sheet. The City of Hobart also applies differential rates once a visitor-accommodation permit is issued.
Who pays the ACT levy?
The booking service provider, not the guest and not the host as a separate taxpayer. Direct bookings with an owner or occupier are not subject to the levy. Bookings of more than 28 continuous days are out; checkout day is not counted. The rate is 5% of the total booking amount for bookings made from 1 July 2025. From 1 July 2027 the rate is 7.5%, and the Act applies the rate in force on the day the rental period ends. Bookings made before 1 July 2025 are not levied, even if the stay was later.
Does the ACT levy cover hotels and caravan parks?
The March 2025 announcement of the Bill said hotels, motels, serviced apartments, caravan parks, camping grounds and hostels were excluded, and so was hosted accommodation where the occupant is there with the guest. The Revenue Office page we read in October 2026 explains who pays and the 28-day test in detail, and says direct bookings are out. Recheck the current exclusion list on that page before you assume a motel or a hosted room is outside — announcement text and the administered page can drift apart.
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- YourSAy — Short Stay Accommodation Register (opens 17 September 2026, closes 30 October 2026)
- Tasmanian Legislation — Short Stay Accommodation Act 2019
- Consumer, Building and Occupational Services Tasmania — Short and medium term visitor accommodation
- City of Hobart — Visitor accommodation
- ACT Revenue Office — Short-term rental accommodation levy
- ACT Revenue Office — Budget 2026–27 updates (levy to 7.5% from 1 July 2027)
- Short-Term Rental Accommodation Levy Act 2025 (ACT)
Rules last checked on 22 October 2026.