Hawaiʻi GE Tax (GET) for short-term rental owners
Hawaiʻi's General Excise Tax (GET) is a tax on the gross income of every business operating in the state — including short-term rentals. Under HRS §237, you owe GET on the full rental price you charge guests, before cleaning fees or platform commissions are deducted.
What rate applies?
The state base rate is 4.0%, and each county adds its own surcharge. The combined rate you remit:
- Maui — 4.50% (4.0% state + 0.5% county surcharge)
- Oʻahu (Honolulu) — 4.50% (4.0% state + 0.5% county surcharge, in effect until 2030 per current legislation)
- Hawaiʻi County (Big Island) — 4.25% (4.0% state + 0.25% county surcharge)
- Kauaʻi — 4.50% (4.0% state + 0.5% county surcharge)
See the side-by-side county comparison for the underlying citations.
Filing cadence: when, where, what form
The forms are:
- Form G-45 (periodic) — filed monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually depending on your annual liability. Most active STRs ($4K+/year) file monthly, due the 20th of the following month per HRS §237-30.
- Form G-49 (annual reconciliation) — due April 20th of the year after the tax year. This is where you reconcile all the periodic returns + true up.
File and pay at Hawaii Tax Online (hitax.hawaii.gov). Save the confirmation number — PermitPaddler stores it on the filing record + uses it in your audit log.
Avoiding §231-39 penalties
Hawaiʻi penalties (HRS §231-39) for failure to file are 5% of unpaid tax per month, capped at 25%, plus interest at 2/3 of 1% per month (~8% annual, compounded) on the unpaid tax + accrued penalty. Try our late-fee calculator to see what one missed filing actually costs.
How PermitPaddler helps
PermitPaddler seeds 12 months of G-45 filings the moment you add a property, fires reminders 30/14/7/3/1 days before each due date, auto-suggests tax owed from your gross receipts based on county rate, and lets you upload a G-45 PDF that Claude reads and auto-fills (confirmation #, period, amounts). Audit trail kept indefinitely for compliance defense.