Security and privacy

How the hands-off payment works, and why your money never passes through us

We file and pay each county for you, but we never hold, receive or move your money. Payments go straight from your bank account to the county or state, inside the government’s own portal.

The money path

1. Your bank account (the one you choose, often a separate rental account).
2. The county’s or state’s own payment portal, where the payment is made by e-check (ACH debit), the same way you would pay it yourself.
3. The county or state. The debit shows on your statement under the government’s name, not ours.

There is no HostTaxDesk account in the middle. We cannot redirect a payment to ourselves, and we never ask you to send tax money to us. Our own fee is billed separately.

What you authorize, once

• A payment authorization naming the one account we may debit, and only for county and state lodging and sales tax returns we file for you.
• The county’s agent or limited power-of-attorney form, where the county offers one, so we can act as your filer.
• Our service agreement. You can revoke the authorization at any time in writing; it stops future filings, not your past records.

Catch-up (back-tax) payments are never made without your separate OK for that payment.

How we protect access

• We never ask for passwords by email, text or chat.
• Where a county lets an owner add a separate user or agent, we use that instead of your login.
• Where only the owner’s login works, it is kept in an encrypted credential vault and used only to file and pay your returns.
• Your bank details stay saved inside the county’s portal; we don’t keep a copy of your full account number.
• Every filing’s confirmation number, amount, date and receipt goes into your file the same day.

What we collect, and what we don’t

Only what a return needs: the property address, your county registration numbers, and your booking earnings for each period (read-only access or a monthly export). We don’t sell or share your data. See our privacy policy.

If something goes wrong

If a payment is rejected (for example, a bank debit block or insufficient funds), we tell you the same day and refile before the deadline. Counties may add their own returned-payment fees; those are set by the county.

Pre-launch note: our authorization forms are under legal review before we accept clients. Questions? hello@hosttaxdesk.com.