Every rate, rule and date below comes from the County of Maui, checked October 21, 2026. Rates change every fiscal year, and we update this page when the County acts.

Maui sets the tax by class, and the class follows the property’s use

Every parcel in Maui County is placed in one of twelve classes, each with its own rates. The class depends on how the property is used and what its zoning allows. Where the owner lives matters only through the home exemption.

Maui County Code section 3.48.305 sets the classes. The Real Property Assessment Division puts the principle in two lines: “Tax rates are established by the Maui County Council. Classification is based upon use.” Five classes cover most Wailea-Makena residences.

The class is printed on the assessment notice mailed each March and on the parcel’s County record. Check it there first.

The FY2026-27 rates and tier breaks, class by class

Resolution 26-69, FD2, adopted by the Maui County Council on May 15, 2026 by nine votes to none, sets these rates for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, in dollars per $1,000 of net taxable value.

A tier taxes only the value inside it

The whole value does not jump into one bracket. Under Code section 3.48.561 and the County’s guide, How to Calculate Real Property Taxes, a $3,000,000 non-owner-occupied home pays $6.25 on its first $1,000,000, $9.00 on the next $1,500,000 and $17.00 only on the last $500,000. Net taxable value is the assessed value less any exemption; divide it by 1,000 and multiply by the rate. Each taxable parcel also owes at least the minimum tax set in the annual budget, with narrow exceptions (section 3.48.590).

What changed from FY2025-26: the $17.00 tier now starts at $2.5 million

For a second home, the change that matters is the non-owner-occupied class: Tier 1 rose to $6.25, Tier 2 to $9.00, and the $17.00 tier now starts at $2.5 million instead of $3 million. TVR-STRH rates rose in every tier.

Hotel and resort, apartment, agricultural, conservation, commercial and industrial rates did not change.

A condo zoned for vacation rental is usually taxed as TVR-STRH even if it is never rented

In Maui County, a condominium unit in a hotel district, or in an apartment district where vacation rental is a permitted use, is classified TVR-STRH whether or not the owner rents it, unless another class applies. For a second-home owner, the practical way out is a qualifying long-term lease.

Code section 3.48.305(C) says dwelling units in the hotel district “must be classified as ‘TVR-STRH'” unless classified as long-term rental, commercialized residential, apartment or owner-occupied, and section 3.48.305(D) applies the same rule in an apartment district or planned development where “transient vacation rentals are a permitted use.” The same section puts time share units in the Time share class and properties with transient stays, eight or more units and more than twenty full-time employees in Hotel and Resort, and the Division’s budget statistics describe TVR-STRH as “Properties zoned for transient occupancy that are not classified as hotel and resort, long term rental or owner-occupied.” The Division’s answer to owners who objected: the 2020 ordinances “classify second homes that are not rented, but allow transient occupancy via zoning, as short-term rental.”

So the first tax question about a South Maui condo is its zoning, not its rental history; in the hypothetical example below, the two second-home classes differ by $14,950 a year on a $3,000,000 value. Our guide to hotel-zoned and apartment-zoned condos shows how to check a complex.

Minatoya-list condos and the 2031 phase-out

Most Minatoya-list condos are TVR-STRH today because vacation rental is still allowed for them until the phase-out date. Ordinance 5909 ends that use on January 1, 2031 outside West Maui and January 1, 2029 in West Maui; the Division counts 4,315 parcels outside West Maui subject to the phase-out, 3,841 of them in the TVR-STRH class for FY2026-27. Neither the Code nor the rate resolution yet says how they will be classified once the use ends, and a twelve-month lease reaches the long-term rental class now. The law and the owner’s options are in our guide to Bill 9 and the Minatoya list.

For a house, the permit and the zoning decide

A house is TVR-STRH when it holds a short-term rental home permit or conditional permit, or sits where vacation rental is a permitted use, and is not the owner’s principal residence. Otherwise a Wailea or Makena house used as a second home and not rented is non-owner-occupied; the Division’s class descriptions list “Second home and not rented” in that class.

A hypothetical $3 million Wailea home, computed tier by tier

On a hypothetical net taxable value of $3,000,000, the FY2026-27 tax is $28,250 in the non-owner-occupied class and $43,200 in the TVR-STRH class. The same assessed value as a long-term rental or an owner-occupied home owes $10,850 or $4,635, because those classes subtract an exemption first and charge lower rates.

Billed in two equal halves, the non-owner-occupied tax in this example is $14,125 due August 20 and $14,125 due February 20. Above $3,000,000 both second-home classes charge $17.00, so each further $100,000 of assessed value adds $1,700 a year in either class and the gap stays at $14,950.

At FY2025-26 rates the same non-owner-occupied value owed $23,070 ($5,870 plus $17,200), so the FY2026-27 rates and lower tier break add $5,180 before any change in the assessment. The TVR-STRH figure rose from $40,500 to $43,200.

The homeowner exemption takes $300,000 off the value, for a principal residence only

The Maui County home exemption reduces assessed value by $300,000 and moves the property into the owner-occupied class, taxed at $1.65 to $5.00 per $1,000 in FY2026-27. It belongs to one principal residence per taxpayer in Maui County, and the claim is due December 31.

Under Code section 3.48.450 and the County’s claim form, the owner must meet every requirement each year:

• Own and occupy the home as a principal residence on January 1, the assessment date.
• Live there more than 270 days of each calendar year, and never rent the entire home.
• File a State of Hawaii resident income tax return reporting a Maui County address before the exemption takes effect (for a claim due December 31, 2026, the 2025 return, filed before January 1, 2027). Nonresident and part-year resident returns do not qualify.
• Have no taxes on the property delinquent for more than one year.

The Code bars the exemption for property owned by “any corporation, copartnership, or company.” For a home held in an entity or trust, ask the Real Property Assessment Division, (808) 270-7297, how to file.

The claim, the timing and the late-filing routes

The current form, DFT-450 for the 2027 assessment year, is due December 31, 2026 and asks for occupancy on January 1, 2027. In the County’s words, “The exemption will take effect January 1 after a claim has been filed. The change in taxes will take effect on the subsequent July 1.” Code section 3.48.410 adds two narrower routes: a claim filed by June 30 is allowed from the second-half payment, and a late claim filed by September 30 may qualify for half the exemption, “subject to a 25 percent late filing penalty on the amended taxes.” Confirm with the Division which applies.

The exemption then continues until the facts change. An owner who stops qualifying, by moving out, renting the whole home or selling, must report within thirty days or face a civil penalty of $200 or the tax without the exemption, whichever is less.

The long-term rental class: a twelve-month lease to one tenant and a claim by December 31

A second home leased for twelve consecutive months or more to the same tenant can be classified long-term rental, with a $200,000 exemption and FY2026-27 rates of $2.90, $5.00 and $8.50 per $1,000. The owner files the claim, with the signed lease, by December 31 before the tax year.

Under Code section 3.48.466 the tenant must be a person with no other place of residence, under a signed lease of twelve consecutive months or more on January 1; the County’s form adds that six-month and month-to-month leases do not qualify. A lease to an owner, to an officer, member or partner of an owning entity, or to any entity rather than a person is refused. Any vacation rental use during the assessment year revokes the exemption for the whole year, and a change in use must be reported within thirty days.

For condos the County answers the zoning question directly: “Condominiums that are one unit, regardless of zoning, would qualify for the $200,000 long-term rental exemption.” That is the route out of TVR-STRH for an owner willing to lease a year at a time.

The County’s calendar: January 1 values, March 15 notices, April 9 appeals

Maui County values and classifies every parcel as of January 1, mails notices by March 15, takes appeals until April 9, and bills the tax year that starts July 1 in halves due August 20 and February 20.

The assessed value trails the market

The County assesses at 100 percent of market value, valuing even a leasehold condo as fee simple, and builds each January 1 value from “comparable sales that recorded up to June 30 prior to the assessment date.” The 2026 assessment used sales recorded through June 30, 2025, so a sale that closes this year reaches the assessments in a later year.

Appeals go to the Board of Review, and the bill does not wait

An owner who disagrees with the value, class or exemption on the notice appeals to the Real Property Tax Board of Review by April 9, with the $75 fee; a postmark on or before April 9 counts. The County’s Appeals page is plain: “you must pay all taxes by the due dates or you will be charged penalty and interest.” Late tax carries a 10 percent penalty and interest of 1 percent a month.

For buyers and sellers: the class follows the new owner’s use

A Maui property’s tax can change after a sale because the class and any exemption follow the owner’s use, not the property. The seller’s home exemption ends with the seller’s ownership, and the buyer’s own use and claims set the class from the next January 1 assessment.

The Code requires an owner to report within thirty days after “ceasing to be the owner” of an exempt home. A buyer moving in files a new home exemption claim by December 31; a buyer leasing long term files the long-term rental claim; a buyer of a vacation-rental-zoned condo who does neither should budget for TVR-STRH rates, whatever the seller paid. Price the holding cost on the class you will be in.

If you are selling, the State’s HARPTA withholding and federal FIRPTA withholding can come out of the proceeds at closing, as our HARPTA and FIRPTA guide explains. The State conveyance tax is a separate one-time tax on the transfer, covered with the rest of a seller’s costs in our guide to selling in Wailea and Makena.

Frequently asked questions