Atlanta per diem rates FY2027

Atlanta lodging cap by month

For Atlanta hotels: the cap against your ADR

Hotel tax, season and changes in Atlanta

Hotel tax for federal travellers in Atlanta

A hotel stay in Atlanta carries a per-night fee and two percentage taxes. Georgia's Department of Revenue requires innkeepers to collect a state hotel-motel fee of $5.00 per night^[6], and Georgia charges sales tax on accommodations^[7]. The department's rate chart effective 1 October 2026 lists 8.9% for Atlanta in both Fulton and DeKalb counties, with lower rates in two special districts downtown^[8]. The state's community affairs department lists the City of Atlanta's own hotel-motel tax at 8% in its rate report, last updated in January 2024^[9]. The city's own website could not be opened when this section was checked. GSA's per diem lodging cap includes none of these^[3].

The exemption for federal travellers depends on the card. GSA's SmartPay page for Georgia says centrally billed accounts are exempt from the state sales tax and individually billed accounts are not, and that the $5.00 fee does not apply when the federal government rents the room on a centrally billed card^[10]. For the city's excise tax it names a separate form, the State of Georgia Certificate of Exemption of Local Hotel/Motel Excise Tax^[10]. The Department of Revenue puts the fee rule in plain terms: the federal government is exempt when it pays with a check drawn on a federal account, a centrally billed card or a federal purchase order^[6]. For a hotel, the card type therefore decides both the $5.00 fee and the sales tax, while the city's excise needs its own form^[10]. GSA's page does not say which travellers or card types that form covers, so a guest should ask the hotel before arrival whether it accepts the form for the stay.

When Atlanta's cap peaks

GSA sets one cap for most of the year in Atlanta and a higher one from January to March. We could not open the official visitor bureau's or the convention center's pages when this section was checked, and we found no other official source that explains the winter peak, so we describe it only from GSA's table above and do not guess at a cause.

What changed from FY2026

By hotels.tools' calculation from GSA rates, Atlanta's lodging cap rose in 12 months from FY2026 to FY2027, by between +$6 and +$10 a night. Averaged over Atlanta's 12 months, by hotels.tools' calculation from GSA rates, the cap went from $185.75 to $192.75 a night (+$7). GSA kept Atlanta's M&IE rate at $86 a day in both years. That moved Atlanta more than GSA's standard lodging rate, by hotels.tools' calculation from GSA rates.

Meals and incidentals in Atlanta

Where the Atlanta rate applies

GSA's Atlanta locality covers Fulton / Dekalb, listed under GA.

IRS high-low status in Atlanta

Long stays in Atlanta: 13-week totals

Frequently asked questions