Chapter 5.30
UNIFORM TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY TAX1
Sections:
5.30.010 Short title.
5.30.020 Definitions.
5.30.030 Tax imposed.
5.30.040 Exemptions.
5.30.050 Transient occupancy registration certificate.
5.30.060 Duty of operator.
5.30.070 Reporting and remitting.
5.30.080 Noncompliance, assessment.
5.30.090 Collection by court action.
5.30.100 Delinquent payment – Penalties.
5.30.110 Refunds.
5.30.120 Appeals.
5.30.010 Short title.
This chapter may be cited as the uniform transient occupancy tax regulations of the City of Pleasant Hill. (1991 code § 4-3.1)
5.30.020 Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
Hotel a structure, or a portion of a structure, which is occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes, and includes a hotel, inn, tourist home or 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.
Occupancy means the use or possession, or the right to the use or possession, of a room or portion of a room in a hotel for dwelling, lodging, or sleeping purposes.
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 or 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 chapter and shall have the same duties and liabilities as his or her principal. Compliance with this chapter by either the principal or the managing agent shall, however, be considered to be compliance by both.
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.
Tax administrator means the finance officer.
Transient means a 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 29 consecutive calendar days or less, counting portions of calendar days as full days. A person who so occupies space in a hotel is a transient until the period of 29 days expires 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 before and after June 10, 1965, may be considered. (1991 code § 4-3.2)
5.30.030 Tax imposed.
For the privilege of occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to and shall pay a tax in the amount specified by city council resolution of the rent charged by the operator. The 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 transient’s 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 shall be paid directly to the tax administrator. (1991 code § 4-3.3)
5.30.040 Exemptions.
A. No tax shall be imposed upon:
1. A person as to whom, or an occupancy as to which, it is beyond the power of the city to impose the tax;
2. A federal or state officer or employee when on official business;
3. An officer or employee of a foreign government who is exempt by express provision of federal law or international treaty.
B. No exemption may be granted except upon a claim made at the time rent is collected and under penalty of perjury upon a form prescribed by the tax administrator. (1991 code § 4-3.4)
5.30.050 Transient occupancy registration certificate.
A. Required. Within 30 days after beginning business, each operator of a hotel renting occupancy to transients shall register the hotel with the tax administrator and obtain a transient occupancy registration certificate, to be at all times posted in a conspicuous place on the premises.
B. Contents. The certificate shall, among other things, state the following:
1. The name of the operator;
2. The address of the hotel;
3. The date upon which the certificate was issued.
C. Compliance. This transient occupancy registration certificate signifies that the person named on the face hereof has fulfilled the requirements of the uniform transient occupancy tax regulations by registering with the tax administrator for the purpose of collecting from transients the transient occupancy tax and remitting the tax to the tax administrator. This certificate does not authorize a person to conduct an unlawful business or to conduct a 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 the city. This certificate does not constitute a permit. (1991 code § 4-3.5)
5.30.060 Duty of operator.
A. Collection. Each operator shall collect the tax 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 payment from the operator. No operator of a hotel shall advertise or state in any manner that the tax or any part of it 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 provided in this chapter.
B. Record keeping. It is the duty of every operator liable for the collection and payment to the city of the tax to keep and preserve for a period of three years all records as may be necessary to determine the amount of the tax as he or she may have been liable for the collection of and payment to the city. The tax administrator may inspect these records at all reasonable times. (1991 code § 4-3.6)
5.30.070 Reporting and remitting.
A. 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, each operator shall make a return to the tax administrator, on a form provided by him or her, of the total rents charged and received and the amount of tax collected for transient occupancies.
B. At the time the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be paid to the tax administrator. The tax administrator may establish shorter reporting periods for a certificate holder if he or she considers it necessary in order to ensure collection of the tax and he or she may require further information in the return. Returns and payments are due immediately upon cessation of business. All taxes collected by an operator shall be held in trust for the account of the city until payment is made to the tax administrator. (1991 code § 4-3.7)
5.30.080 Noncompliance, assessment.
A. If an operator fails or refuses to collect the tax and to make any report and remittance of the tax, the tax administrator shall proceed in such manner as he or she considers best to obtain facts and information on which to base his or her estimate of the tax due. As soon as the tax administrator obtains such facts and information upon which to base the assessment of the tax payable by an operator who has failed or refused to collect it and to report and pay it, he or she shall determine and assess against the operator the tax, interest and penalties provided for.
B. In case such determination is made, the tax administrator shall give a notice of the amount assessed by serving it personally or by depositing it in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the operator at his or her last known place of address.
C. The operator may within 10 days after the serving or mailing of the notice apply 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 determined by the tax administrator become final and conclusive and immediately due and payable. If such application is made, the tax administrator shall give not less than five days’ written notice in the manner prescribed in this subsection to the operator to show cause at a time and place fixed in the notice why the amount specified should not be fixed for such tax, interest and penalties.
D. At the hearing the operator may appear and offer evidence why the specified tax, interest and penalties should not be so fixed. After the hearing the tax administrator shall determine the proper tax and shall give written notice to the person in the manner prescribed in this subsection of his or her determination and the amount of the tax, interest and penalties. The amount determined to be due is payable after 15 days unless an appeal is taken as provided in PHMC § 5.30.120. (1991 code § 4-3.8)
5.30.090 Collection by court action.
The tax required to be paid by a transient is a debt owed by the transient to the city. The tax collected by an operator which has not been paid to the city is a debt owed by the operator to the city. A person owing this debt is liable to an action brought in the name of the city for the recovery of the debt. (1991 code § 4-3.9)
5.30.100 Delinquent payment – Penalties.
A. An operator who fails to remit the tax within the time required shall pay a penalty of 10% of the amount of the tax in addition to the amount of the tax.
B. An operator who fails to remit a delinquent payment on or before a period of 30 days following the date on which the remittance first became delinquent shall pay a second delinquency penalty of 10% of the amount of the tax in addition to the amount of the tax and the 10% penalty first imposed.
C. If the tax administrator determines that the nonpayment of any remittance due under this section is due to fraud, a penalty of 25% of the amount of the tax shall be added thereto in addition to the penalties stated in subsections A and B of this section.
D. In addition to the penalties imposed, any operator who fails to remit any tax imposed by this section shall pay interest at the rate of 0.5% per month or fraction thereof on the amount of the tax, exclusive of penalties, from the date on which the remittance first became delinquent until paid.
E. Every penalty imposed and the interest as accrues under this subsection becomes a part of the tax required to be paid. (1991 code § 4-3.10)
5.30.110 Refunds.
A. Whenever the amount of a tax, interest or penalty is overpaid, paid more than once, or is erroneously collected or received by the city, it may be refunded as provided in subsections B and C of this subsection if a claim in writing stating, under penalty of perjury, the specific grounds upon which the claim is founded is filed with the tax administrator within three 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 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. However, neither a refund nor a credit is 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, paid more than once, or erroneously collected or received by the city by filing a claim in the manner provided in subsection A of this section, but only when the tax was paid by the transient directly to the tax administrator, or when the transient, after paying the tax to the operator, establishes to the satisfaction of the tax administrator that the transient is unable to obtain a refund from the operator who collected the tax.
D. No refund may be paid unless the claimant establishes his or her right to it by written records showing entitlement to it. (1991 code § 4-3.11)
5.30.120 Appeals.
An operator aggrieved by a decision of the tax administrator with respect to the amount of the tax, interest, or penalties may appeal to the council by filing a notice of appeal with the city clerk within 15 days of the serving or mailing of the determination of tax due. The council shall fix a time and place for hearing the appeal, and the city clerk shall give notice in writing to the operator at his or her last known place of address. The findings of the council are 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 is due and payable upon the service of notice. (1991 code § 4-3.12)
Editor’s note: For statutory provisions authorizing a city to levy a tax on the occupancy of a hotel room, see Revenue and Taxation Code section 7280.