Dear WH&LA Chamber/CVB Member:
Yesterday (May 1) was the official deadline for all municipalities imposing a local Room Tax to remit their first annual report to the state Department of Revenue (DOR) , covering Room Tax collected and spent in their municipality in 2016. This new requirement was passed within the state Budget in July, 2015, allowing municipalities almost 2 years to prepare for this new accountability. There has been quite a scramble of last minute filings, with over 20 remitted late afternoon/early evening yesterday. The DOR has the authority to impose a penalty of up to $3,000 on municipalities that do not comply.
As of this morning, 319 municipalities had filed reports, with some still missing portions required. To see if your municipality has submitted their report and to view just what it says, go to:
- The total room tax collected and the rate imposed
- A detailed accounting of the room tax revenues required to be spent on Tourism Promotion & Tourism Development that includes a list of all such expenditures over $1,000 made by a tourism commission or a tourism entity.
- A list of each member of the governing body of a tourism entity and tourism commission members overseeing the Tourism Promotion & Tourism Development expenditures which includes their name, and their employer
- If they are a "grandfathered" municipality they must include their pre-1994 room tax ordinance as well as proof of the amount that was retained by the municipality for their own purposes from collected room tax as of May 1994.
While this new requirement was never intended as the sole method of improving compliance with the state room tax law, it in many cases improves transparency and also in many cases (unfortunately not all, however) it is improving the interest in voluntary compliance.
