Bill Text: VA HB1328 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Transient occupancy taxes; changes to administration of tax.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-13 - Left in Finance [HB1328 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB1328-Introduced.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§58.1-210.1, 58.1-3826, and 58.1-3827 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§58.1-210.1. Publication of local transient occupancy taxes.
The Department shall annually publish on its website the current rate of the transient occupancy tax imposed in each locality, including any discounts, deductions, or exemptions. Every tax-assessing officer of a county, city, or town shall send to the Department, in a manner prescribed by the Department, the information as to his county, city, or town necessary to enable the Department to publish such information. Such information shall be so furnished by such tax-assessing officers as soon as it is available after request by the Department or with at least 30 days' notice prior to the effective date of any change in such rate. Any change in the rate of any local transient occupancy tax shall become effective no earlier than the first day of the calendar quarter following the calendar quarter in which the change in such rate is enacted. Failure to provide notice pursuant to this section shall require the county, city, or town to apply the preceding effective tax rate until 30 days after notification of such change is provided to the Department. If any such tax-assessing officer fails, without good cause, to furnish the same to the Department on demand, he is guilty of nonfeasance in office.
§58.1-3826. Scope of transient occupancy tax.
A. The transient occupancy tax imposed pursuant to the authority of this article shall be imposed only for the use or possession of any room or space that is suitable or intended for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging, or sleeping purposes.
B. For any retail sale of accommodations not facilitated by an accommodations intermediary, the accommodations provider shall collect the tax imposed pursuant to this article, computed on the total price paid for the use or possession of the accommodations, and shall remit the same to the locality and shall be liable for the same.
C. For any retail sale of accommodations facilitated by an
accommodations intermediary, the accommodations intermediary shall be deemed
under this article as a facility making a retail sale of an accommodation. The
accommodations intermediary shall collect the tax imposed pursuant to this
article, computed on the room charge, and shall remit the same to the locality in accordance with §58.1-3827
and shall be liable for the same.
D. For any transaction for the retail sale of accommodations involving two or more parties that meet the definition of accommodations intermediary, nothing in this section shall prohibit such parties from making an agreement regarding which party shall be responsible for collecting and remitting the tax, so long as the party so responsible is registered with the locality for purposes of remitting the tax. In such event, the party that agrees to collect and remit the tax shall be the sole party liable for the tax, and the other parties to such agreement shall not be liable for such tax.
E. In any retail sale of any accommodations in which an accommodations intermediary does not facilitate the sale of the accommodations, the accommodations provider shall separately state the amount of the tax in the bill, invoice, or similar documentation and shall add the tax to the total price paid for the use or possession of the accommodations. In any retail sale of any accommodations in which an accommodations intermediary facilitates the sale of the accommodation, the accommodations intermediary shall separately state the amount of the tax on the bill, invoice, or similar documentation and shall add the tax to the room charge; thereafter, such tax shall be a debt from the customer to the accommodations intermediary, recoverable at law in the same manner as other debts.
F. Subject to applicable laws, an accommodations intermediary shall submit to a locality the property addresses and gross receipts for all accommodations facilitated by the accommodations intermediary in such locality. Such information shall be submitted monthly.
§58.1-3827. Administration of transient occupancy tax.
A. The tax-assessing officer of a county, city, or town shall
administer and enforce
the assessment of, and the treasurer
of such county, city, or town shall collect, transient
occupancy taxes from accommodations intermediaries.
B. In administering the assessment of transient occupancy
taxes from accommodations intermediaries, the tax-assessing officer of a
county, city, or town shall provide adequate
information comply with the
provisions of §58.1-210.1 to
enable accommodations intermediaries to
enable them to identify transient occupancy rates, the
applicable jurisdiction, and any discounts, deductions, or exemptions.
C. The Department shall administer the collection of transient occupancy taxes from accommodations intermediaries.
D. Every
accommodations intermediary required to collect or pay the transient occupancy
tax, on or before the twentieth day of the month following the month in which
the tax shall become effective, shall transmit to the
tax-assessing officer of a county, city, or town a Department an aggregated
return showing the gross receipts, any allowable discounts, deductions, or
exemptions, and the rate applied to the resultant net receipts and shall remit
to the treasurer of such locality Department the total local
transient occupancy tax due, as well as any penalties and interest due, arising
from all transactions taxable under this chapter during the preceding calendar
month for each locality imposing such tax.
Where applicable, the return shall also include the number of room nights and
the room tax rate applied, the total amount of room tax due, and any regional
transportation transient occupancy taxes due. Thereafter, a like return shall
be prepared and transmitted to the tax-assessing
officer of a county, city, or town
Department by every accommodations intermediary on or
before the twentieth day of each month, for the preceding calendar month. The tax collected pursuant to this section shall
be collected at the rate adopted by the county,
city, or town.
E. All local transient occupancy taxes collected by the Department under this section shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of a special fund created on the books of the Comptroller. Such moneys shall be credited to the account of each particular county, city, or town levying a transient occupancy tax under this section. The basis of such credit shall be the county, city, or town in which the accommodation is located as shown in the accompanying tax return.
F. As soon as practicable after the local transient occupancy tax moneys have been paid into the state treasury in any month for the preceding month, the Comptroller shall draw his warrant on the Treasurer of Virginia in the proper amount of local transient occupancy tax moneys that each county, city, or town is entitled to, and such payments shall be charged to the account of each such county, city, or town under the special fund created by this section. If errors are made in any such payment, or adjustments are otherwise necessary, whether attributable to refunds to taxpayers, or to some other fact, the errors shall be corrected and adjustments made in the payments as soon as practical.
G. The Department shall not withhold any portion of the local transient occupancy tax collected for any city, county, or town to cover the expenses of administering the collection and distribution of the tax.
H. The Department shall promulgate guidelines regarding this section. Such guidelines shall be exempt from the provisions of the Administrative Process Act (§2.2-4000 et seq.).
2. That the Department of Taxation, in consultation with representatives of the tax-assessing officers of counties, cities, and towns, shall contract with a third-party provider for development of an electronic interface that enables accommodations intermediaries to provide a single aggregated filing and remittance for transient occupancy taxes due for all counties, cities, and towns. Such interface shall include all of the information required by this act for inclusion in a return and allow for the payment of all taxes due by electronic means and provide for the distribution of such taxes on a monthly basis to the applicable local governing body in which the short-term rental unit was located and for which the tax was collected by the accommodations intermediary. Such interface shall be procured, tested, and fully operational by July 1, 2025.
