Loyalton Municipal Code Ch. 4.18 Transient Occupancy Tax

This ordinance shall be known as the Transient Occupancy Tax Ordinance of the City of Loyalton.

Except where the context otherwise requires, the definitions given in this section govern the construction of this ordinance. (a) Person. “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, social club, fraternal organization, joint stock company, corporation, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, trustee, syndicate, or any other group or combination acting as a unit. (b) Hotel. “Hotel” means any structure, or any portion of any structure, which is occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes, and includes any hotel, inn, condominium, house, motel, studio hotel, bachelor hotel, lodging house, rooming house, apartment house, dormitory, public or private club, mobile home or house trailer at a fixed location, or other similar structure or portion thereof. (c) Occupancy. “Occupancy” means the use or possession, or the right to the use or possession of any room or rooms or portion thereof, in any hotel for dwelling, Lodging or sleeping purposes. (d) Transient. “Transient” means any person who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy by reason of concession, permit, right of access, license or other agreement for a period of thirty (30) consecutive calendar days or less, counting portions of calendar days as full days. Any such person so occupying space in a hotel shall be deemed a transient until the period of thirty (30) days has expired, unless there is an agreement in writing between the operator and the occupant providing for a longer period of occupancy. In determining whether a person is a transient, uninterrupted periods of time extending both prior and subsequent to the effective date of this ordinance may be considered. (e) Rent. “Rent” means the consideration charged, whether or not received, for the occupancy of space in a hotel valued in money, whether to be received in money, goods, labor or otherwise, including all receipts, cash, credits, and property and services of any kind or nature, without any deduction therefrom whatsoever. (f) Operator. “Operator” means the person who is proprietor of the hotel, whether in the capacity of owner, lessee, sublessee, mortgagee in possession, licensee, or any other capacity. Where the operator performs his/her functions through a managing agent of any

type or character other than an employee, the managing agent shall also be deemed an operator for the purposes of this ordinance, and shall have the same duties and liabilities as his/her principal. Compliance with the provisions of this ordinance by either the principal or the managing agent shall, however, be considered to be compliance by both. (g) Tax Administrator. “Tax Administrator” means the Clerk of the City of Loyalton, or any other person designated by the City Council to administer this ordinance.

For the privilege of occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to and shall pay a tax in the amount of six percent (6%) of the rent charged by the operator. Said tax constitutes a debt owed by the transient to the City which is extinguished only by payment to the operator or to the City. The transient shall pay the tax to the operator of the hotel at the time the rent is paid. If the rent is paid in installments, a proportionate share of the tax shall be paid with each installment. The unpaid tax shall be due upon the transients’ ceasing to occupy space in the hotel. If for any reason the tax due is not paid to the operator of the hotel, the Tax Administrator may require that such tax be paid directly to the Tax Administrator.

No tax shall be imposed upon: (a) Any federal or State of California officer or employee when on official business; (b) Any officer or employee of a foreign government who is exempt by reason of express provision of federal law or international treaty. No exemption shall be granted except upon a claim therefor made at the time rent is collected and under penalty of perjury upon a form prescribed by the Tax Administrator.

Each operator shall collect the tax imposed by this ordinance to the same extent and at the same time as the rent is collected from every transient. The amount of tax shall be separately stated from the amount of the rent charged, and each transient shall receive a receipt for the payment from the operator. No operator of a hotel shall advertise or state in any manner, whether directly or indirectly, that the tax or any part thereof will be assumed or absorbed by the operator, or that it will not be added to the rent, or that, if added, any part will be refunded except in the manner hereinafter provided.

In order that the City will have an accurate record of parties collecting transient occupancy tax, each hotel operator will be required to register as hereinafter provided. (a) Prior to commencing business and annually thereafter during the month of January of each year, each operator of any hotel renting occupancy to the transients shall register such hotel with the Tax Administrator and obtain from him/her an Annual Registration Certificate to be at all times posted in a conspicuous place on the premises. Registration shall be on a calendar year basis, i.e., from January 1 through December 31, or balance of calendar year in 4.18.020 (Continued) – 4.18.060

the instance of a mid-year registration. Such Annual Registration Certificate shall, among other things, state the following: 1. name and address of the hotel 2. name of the operator 3. name and address of owners 4. Annual Registration Certificate number and date issued. (b) Failure to register prior to commencement of business, or failure to re-register in the month of January in any year of continued operation, as above provided, shall be a misdemeanor. (c) The Annual Registration Certificate shall not be transferable, and shall be returned to the Tax Administrator upon sale of property or cessation of business along with the final remittance of transient taxes due. (d) The operator named on the face of this Annual Registration Certificate shall be responsible for collecting from transients the transient occupancy tax and remitting such tax to the Tax Administrator. This Certificate does not authorize any person to conduct any unlawful business or to conduct any lawful business in an unlawful manner, nor to operate a hotel without strictly complying with all local applicable laws, including but not limited to those requiring a permit from any board, commission, department, or office in this City. (e) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection (a) above, the Tax Administrator may waive the registration requirement for any year where the operator has filed its initial registration during the last six (6) calendar months of the immediately preceding year.

Each operator shall, on or before the last day of the month following the close of each calendar quarter, or at the close of any shorter reporting period which may be established by the Tax Administrator, make a return to the Tax Administrator, on forms provided by him/her, of the total rents charged and received and the amount of tax collected for transient occupancies. At the time the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be remitted to the Tax Administrator. The Tax Administrator may establish shorter reporting periods for any certificate holder if he/she deems it necessary in order to ensure collection of the tax, and he/she may require further information in the return. Returns and payments are due immediately upon cessation of business for any reason. All taxes collected by operators pursuant to this ordinance shall be held in trust for the account of the City until payment thereof is made to the Tax Administrator.

(a) Original Delinquency. Any operator who fails to collect and remit any tax imposed by this ordinance within the time required shall pay a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount of the tax in addition to the amount of the tax. (b) Continued Delinquency. Any operator who fails to remit any delinquent remittance on or before a period of thirty (30) days following the date on which the remittance first became delinquent shall pay a second delinquency penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount of the tax in addition to the amount of the tax and the ten percent (10%) penalty first imposed. (c) Fraud. If the Tax Administrator determines that the nonpayment of any remittance due under this ordinance is due to fraud, a penalty of twenty-five percent (25%) of the amount of 4.18.060 (Continued) – 4.18.080

the tax shall be added thereto in addition to the penalties stated in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of this section. (d) Interest. In addition to the penalties imposed, any operator who fails to remit any tax imposed by this ordinance shall pay interest at the rate of one and one-half percent (1½%), per month, on the unpaid balance of the tax, including penalties, from the date on which the remittance first became delinquent until paid. (e) Penalties Merged With Tax. Every penalty imposed and such interest as accrues under the provisions of this section shall become a part of the tax herein required to be paid.

If any operator shall fail or refuse to collect said tax and to make, within the time provided in this ordinance, any report and remittance of said tax or any portion thereof required by this ordinance, the Tax Administrator shall proceed in such manner as he/she may deem best to obtain facts and information on which to base his/her estimate of the tax due. As soon as the Tax Administrator shall procure such facts and information as he/she is able to obtain upon which to base the assessment of any tax imposed by this ordinance and payable by any operator who has failed or refused to collect the same and to make such report and remittance, he/she shall proceed to determine and assess against such operator the tax, interest and penalties provided for by this ordinance. When such determination is made, the Tax Administrator shall give a notice of the amount so assessed by serving it personally or by depositing it in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the operator so assessed at his/her last known place of business. Such operator may within twenty (20) days after the serving or mailing of such notice make application in writing to the Tax Administrator for a hearing on the amount assessed. If application by the operator for a hearing is not made within the time prescribed, the tax, interest and penalties, if any, determined by the Tax Administrator, shall become final and conclusive and immediately due and payable. If such application give not less than fifteen (15) days written notice in the manner prescribed herein to the operator to show cause at the time and place fixed in said notice why said amount specified therein should not be fixed for such tax, interest and penalties. At such hearing, the operator may appear and offer evidence why such specified tax, interest and penalties should not be so fixed. After such hearing, the Tax Administrator shall determine the proper tax to be remitted and shall thereafter give written notice to the person in the manner prescribed herein of such determination and the amount of such tax, interest and penalties. The amount determined to be due shall be payable after fifteen (15) days following the mailing or personal delivery of the written notice of such determination unless an appeal is taken as provided in Section 4.18.100.

Any operator aggrieved by any decision of the Tax Administrator with respect to the amount of such tax, interest and penalties, if any, may appeal to the City Council by filing a Notice of Appeal with the City Clerk within fifteen (15) days of the serving or mailing of the determination of tax due. The City Council shall fix a time and place for hearing such appeal, and the City Clerk shall give not less than fifteen (15) days written notice of the hearing date to such operator at his/her last known place of address. The findings of the City Council shall be final and conclusive and shall be served upon the appellant in the manner prescribed above for service of Notice of Hearing. Any amount found to be due shall be immediately due and payable upon the service of notice upon the operator.

4.18.080 (Continued) – 4.18.100

It shall be the duty of every operator liable for the collection and payment to the City of any tax imposed by this article to keep and preserve, for a period of five (5) years, all records that may be necessary to determine the amount of such tax as he/she may have been liable for the collection of and payments to the City under this ordinance. As a minimum, the records deemed necessary for this determination shall be a chronological cash journal showing tax and room rates separately, or other comparable means of summarizing the operator’s monthly or quarterly revenue, supported by room registrations, which may, with reasonable effort, be identified with the revenue summary. These records shall be available, at all reasonable times, for inspection by the City Clerk. Performance of an audit does not waive the City’s right to any tax or the five-year requirement of preserving records.

(a) Whenever the amount of any tax, interest or penalty has been overpaid, or paid more than once, or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City under this ordinance, it may be refunded as provided in subparagraphs (b) and (c) of this section, provided a claim in writing therefor, stating under penalty of perjury the specific grounds upon which the claim is founded, is filed with the Tax Administrator within three (3) years of the date of payment. The claim shall be on forms furnished by the Tax Administrator. (b) An operator may claim a refund, or take as credit against taxes collected and remitted, the amount overpaid, paid more than once, or erroneously or illegally collected or received, when it is established in a manner prescribed by the Tax Administrator that the person from whom the tax has been collected was not a transient, provided, however, that neither a refund nor a credit shall be allowed unless the amount of the tax so collected has either been refunded to the transient or credited to rent subsequently payable by the transient to the operator. (c) A transient may obtain a refund of taxes overpaid, or paid more than once, or erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City, by filing a claim in the manner provided in subparagraph (a) of this section, but only when the tax was paid by the transient directly to the Tax Administrator, or when the transient, having paid the tax to the operator, establishes to the satisfaction of the Tax Administrator that the transient has been unable to obtain a refund from the operator who collected the tax. (d) No refund shall be paid under the provisions of this section unless the claimant establishes his/her right thereto by written records showing entitlement thereto.

Any tax required to be paid under the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed a debt owed by the operator who was responsible for the collection and remittance thereof. Any person owing money to the City under the provisions of this ordinance shall be liable to an action brought in the name of the City of Loyalton for the recovery of such tax and subsequent penalties.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punishable therefor by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment in the County jail for a period of not more than six (6) months, or both such fine and imprisonment.

Any operator or other person who fails or refuses to register as required herein, or to furnish any return required to be made, or who fails or refuses to furnish a supplemental return or other data required by the Tax Administrator, or who renders a false or fraudulent return or claim, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is punishable as aforesaid. Any person required to make, render, sign or verify any report or claim who makes any false or fraudulent report or claim with intent to defeat or evade the determination of any amount due required by this ordinance to be made, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable as aforesaid.

If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance or any part thereof are for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance or any part thereof. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed each section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared unconstitutional.

The tax imposed herein shall be general tax, the revenues of which shall be used for general governmental purposes.

4.18.140 – 4.18.160