Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails will begin charging taxes on overnight stays.

On Saturday, state parks will begin collecting sales and lodging taxes to comply with state law. The taxes will be charged on fees for overnight camping, annual camping permits, reservations, and overnight rental facilities such as cabins, lodges, yurts and treehouses.

“Wyoming State Parks has worked closely with the Department of Revenue to determine where taxes need to be applied to our fees in order to comply with state law,” Deputy Director Nick Neylon said. 

Sales and lodging taxes help fund state and county government operating budgets as well as tourism efforts statewide, with rates varying by county. In Park County, there’s a 4% sales tax and a 7% lodging tax for a total rate of 11%.

Meanwhile, Wyoming State Parks is moving to a new system for annual permit sales. During the transition, parks and selling agents will temporarily be unable to sell day use and camping permits. In the meantime, all annual day use and camping permits must be purchased through Reserve America online at www.wyo-park.com or by phone at 877-996-7275.

The new system will streamline the customer experience by linking permits to the customer’s account with Reserve America, state officials say, while helping Wyo Parks combat misuse in the reservation system.

Each year, they say thousands of dollars are lost to misuse of the reservation system, such as:

• Use of fake permit numbers

• Sharing permit numbers

• Creating multiple accounts to book more sites/more days than allowed

“Preventing these types of abuse will help ensure that visitors are paying their fair share,” said a recent news release from Wyo Parks, adding that visitors fees “are vital” to the state’s parks.

“100% of revenue collected through visitor fees goes right back to parks and sites to fund new construction, improvement projects, site interpretation and maintenance,” the release says. “We also think these changes will increase campsite availability by reducing no-shows and improving compliance for length of stay limits.”

Parks and selling agents are expected to transition to the new system sometime before March. 

“Thank you for your patience as we make these important enhancements to our system,” the release said.

For more information, contact Wyo Parks headquarters by phone at 307-777-6323 or email to state.parks.parks@wyo.gov.