Guide for US lodges, outfitters, guide services and guest ranches
You already know which taxes you collect from your guests. Here is how to set them up in Outfttr.
Outfttr is software, not a tax adviser: you decide your tax treatment with your accountant and set Outfttr up to match.
In Settings you add each tax you collect, with its own name and percentage. A state sales tax and a separate local lodging tax are two taxes. Outfttr does not choose them for you.
When you add a tax, you choose what it applies to: everything, lodging and packages only, items only, or items you pick. Each package and each charge item then keeps its own tax check boxes, and you can change them one by one.
Staff can check or uncheck a tax on one charge without changing the package or item it came from.
Each tax has the day it starts. Charges on a booking use the rates in effect on the arrival date. A walk-in sale uses the day of the sale.
When a rate changes, you enter the new rate and the day it starts. Trips arriving before that day keep the old rate. Outfttr then offers to recalculate the charges on bookings arriving today or later.
A deposit is recorded as a payment on the booking. It carries no tax of its own. The tax sits on the charges.
The invoice lists each tax by name and rate with its total, in the order you set in Settings. With up to three taxes, each gets its own column. With more than three, the lines share one Tax column and each tax still has its own total.
The Taxes report under Reports lists each tax by name and rate, with the taxable amount and the tax charged, and exports to CSV. Booking charges count in the period the trip arrives. Walk-in sales count on the day of the sale.
This is an illustration. The amounts and the rates are made up, and it is not what any lodge must charge. It shows a lodging charge with two taxes checked and a guiding charge with none.
| Lodging | $1,000.00 |
|---|---|
| State sales tax (made-up rate, 5%) on lodging | $50.00 |
| Local lodging tax (made-up rate, 3%) on lodging | $30.00 |
| Guiding, no tax checked | $600.00 |
| Total | $1,680.00 |
Each tax is its percentage of the charge it is checked on. Which boxes are checked is your decision and your accountant's.
Tax rules differ by state, and often by county, city or borough. Your state's department of revenue is the source for yours, along with your local government. These official pages are examples, not a complete list.
Links checked October 9, 2026.
Yes. You set up each tax in Settings with its own name and rate, and you choose which packages and items each one applies to. One charge can carry more than one tax, and the invoice shows each tax by name.
No. In Outfttr a tax applies to a whole charge or not at all, and a package is one charge with no component lines. If your lodging and your guiding are taxed differently, enter them as separate charges on the same booking, each with its own tax check boxes.
The deposit is recorded as a payment and carries no tax of its own. The tax sits on the charges, at the rates in effect on the arrival date. When you enter a new rate you give the day it starts, and Outfttr offers to recalculate the charges on bookings arriving today or later. Trips arriving before the start day keep the old rate.
No. Outfttr is software, not a tax adviser. You decide your tax treatment with your accountant and set Outfttr up to match. Registering, filing and paying stay with you.
This page describes how Outfttr works; it is not tax, legal or accounting advice, and Outfttr is not an accounting firm. Confirm what applies to your lodge with your accountant and your state and local tax offices.