Vacation rentals in Sonora, Mexico, where the lodging tax is filed house by house
If you manage vacation rentals in Sonora, the state revenue law charges a 3% lodging tax on houses and apartments booked through platforms too, and if you have two or more properties, the monthly return is filed for each one. Airbnb collects that 3% on every booking in the state, cleaning fee included. In May 2026 the state congress approved a registry of hosts and platforms, which as of October 23 we still couldn't find published. Upbridge's AI operations assistant, Cleo, works over WhatsApp with vacation rental operators and cleaning companies and organizes the cleanings and the inventory for each place.
The rules here
We read the revenue law in the copy the Sonora state congress publishes, which carries amendments through December 2023, and checked every row on October 23, 2026.
| Topic | What it says | Status | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lodging tax | Article 8 sets 3% on everything you charge for the stay, and article 7 counts deposits and advance payments too. Article 5 names houses and apartments booked through a platform. Payment is due by the 20th of the following month. | In force | Rate from Decree 90, December 30, 2022 | Sonora revenue law |
| One return per property | If you rent out two or more properties, each one gets its own return. Only properties that share a wall or a lot line can go on a single return. A month with no bookings still gets a return, filed at zero. | In force | Text read on October 23, 2026, amended up to Decree 155 of 2023 | Sonora revenue law |
| Platforms | The platform is jointly liable with you for the tax. When the platform is the one taking the money, it has to register with the state taxpayer registry and require its hosts to register as well. Airbnb collects the 3% on every Sonora booking, and the state finance department says it has paid since September 2022. | In force | September 2022 (agreement with Airbnb) | Airbnb |
| Host registry | Congress approved a reform by state legislator Rubén González Aguayo to the state tourism law and to the health, civil protection, real estate services and environmental laws. It creates a mandatory registry of hosts and platforms plus operating licenses. We found no decree in the state's official gazette, and until it is published it binds nobody. | Bill, not law | Approved May 2026 | Proyecto Puente |
Article 10 sends 90% of what this tax raises to a state trust that pays for tourism promotion. Federal income tax and VAT withholding by the platforms works the same in every state, so it lives on the Mexico page.
This is not legal or tax advice, and Upbridge does not file anything for you: no registrations and no tax returns.
How it works on the ground
AirROI counts 6,410 active Airbnb listings across 24 Sonora markets, at 28% average occupancy. Almost half of them sit in two places that have little in common. Rocky Point, the Arizona name for Puerto Peñasco, has 1,651 beach listings that fill up in summer. Hermosillo has 1,366, with the highest occupancy in the state at 33% and nights at around 60 dollars, and it is the steadiest market too, since its weakest month, February, still brings in about two thirds of its best.
On the coast the calendar follows the heat. July is the best month in 7 of the 13 markets AirROI ranks, and January the slowest in 9. That makes January the month for deep cleans, painting and new linens, and in June and July your cleaning crew will be turning houses that are almost always occupied. In San Carlos and Nuevo Guaymas, where revenue per listing rose 10% in a year, 57% of whole-home listings have three or more bedrooms, so every checkout is a big clean.
Hermosillo is also where the state's flights come in. Its airport handled 2,203,100 passengers in 2025, according to Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, and American Eagle flies it to Phoenix. Puerto Peñasco runs on a different kind of traffic, the cars coming down from Arizona, and its own page covers that.
Bookings that come to you directly, over WhatsApp or from repeat guests, never pass through Airbnb, so you charge and file that 3% yourself, one return per house if you have several. It helps a lot when every booking records where it came from and which house it was for.
In July 2026 the Sonora hotel and motel association asked for nightly rentals to go into a registry and to have emergency exits and fire extinguishers (El Imparcial). No rule requires that yet. Checking that each house has a charged extinguisher is still an easy thing to add to every clean.
Where Upbridge fits
For the January deep clean, or a monthly look at whether the extinguisher is still charged, there are photo checklists. You schedule the list for the date you want, and whoever goes to the house sends a photo of each item from their phone, time-stamped.
If you run several houses, each one gets its own calendar connected from Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify, Uplisting or an iCal feed, and every checkout becomes a cleaning tagged with the house and the person. At the end of the month you already know which bookings belonged to which house.
With per-property inventory you know how much toilet paper, soap and coffee each stay goes through, and you get a warning in the app, by email and on WhatsApp before it runs out. A Hermosillo house that rents most of the year sets that warning off often.
If you run a cleaning company in Sonora
On the Sonora coast most of the work lands in summer and in the big San Carlos houses, while in Hermosillo it spreads across the year. The cleaning company account shows every client's checkouts on one calendar, whichever PMS or iCal feed each owner uses. The client stays yours, and we take no commission on any clean.
Cities and areas
Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point)
It is the biggest market in the state, and AirROI splits it into several: Rocky Point with 1,651 listings, Puerto Peñasco with 702, Las Conchas with 151 and Playa Encanto with 143. Its page covers the Arizona guests, the Lukeville crossing and the water.
Hermosillo
The capital has 1,366 listings, the highest occupancy of the large markets and one of the lowest nightly rates. Ciudad Obregón comes next, with 296 listings and 30% occupancy.
San Carlos, Nuevo Guaymas and Bahía Kino
AirROI counts 692 listings in San Carlos and Nuevo Guaymas, where the number of listings grew 25% in a year. Bahía Kino has 216, with the highest revenue per listing among markets of more than 200.
Other states
Sinaloa, south along the same coast, and Baja California, across the Gulf of California.
Questions about running rentals in Sonora
What is the lodging tax in Sonora for an Airbnb house?
3%, under article 8 of Sonora's revenue law. Article 5 covers houses and apartments booked through platforms, and the return is due every month by the 20th.
Does Airbnb collect the Sonora lodging tax?
Airbnb does collect it. Its help center says it charges 3% of the price, cleaning fee included, on every booking in Sonora. The state finance department said in December 2022 that Airbnb and Expedia had been paying since that September.
Is there a host registry in Sonora yet?
Congress approved one in May 2026, together with operating licenses for hosts and platforms. As of October 23, 2026 we found no decree in the official gazette and no open registry to sign up with.
Sources
Checked on October 23, 2026
- Sonora state congress, Ley de Hacienda del Estado de Sonora, chapter on the lodging services tax, articles 5 to 13 (in Spanish), text with amendments through Decree 155 of December 28, 2023.
- Airbnb Help Center, "Tax collection and remittance by Airbnb in Mexico", Sonora section, checked October 23, 2026.
- Proyecto Puente, Mary Montijo, "Plataformas de hospedaje ya pagan impuestos en Sonora, afirma Hacienda" (in Spanish), December 6, 2022.
- Proyecto Puente, "Congreso de Sonora pone la mira en Airbnb y plataformas de hospedaje; aprueban nueva regulación estatal" (in Spanish), May 3, 2026.
- Canal Sonora, "Congreso de Sonora aprueba regulación de plataformas de hospedaje digital" (in Spanish), May 4, 2026.
- El Imparcial, Gamaliel González, "Con más de 3 mil 700 propiedades, Airbnb en Sonora necesita un registro y protección para usuarios" (in Spanish), July 22, 2026.
- AirROI, Airbnb data for the state of Sonora, 24 markets, October 2025 to September 2026, updated October 1, 2026.
- Wikipedia, "General Ignacio Pesqueira García International Airport", with passenger figures from Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, checked October 23, 2026.