Report Title:

TAT; Transient Residential Vacation Rentals

Description:

Adds transient residential vacation rentals to definition of transient accommodations to make them subject to the TAT. Creates a moratorium on TAT registration of new transient residential vacation rentals effective 6/1/06 subject to the enactment of county ordinances and/or rules specifically regulating their operation in residential areas.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1654

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 237D-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "transient accommodations" to read as follows:

""Transient accommodations" mean the furnishing of a room, apartment, suite, or the like which is customarily occupied by a transient for less than one hundred eighty consecutive days for each letting by a hotel, apartment hotel, motel, condominium property regime or apartment as defined in chapter 514A, cooperative apartment, or rooming house that provides living quarters, sleeping, or housekeeping accommodations, or other place in which lodgings are regularly furnished to transients for consideration. The term "transient accommodations" includes a transient residential vacation rental, which refers generally to providing living quarters, sleeping, or housekeeping accommodations or other place in which lodgings are furnished to transients, normally vacationers, for consideration, for which the accommodations are a dwelling or a part thereof that is not licensed or registered as a hotel, apartment hotel, or motel, or is not otherwise duly permitted by the county and is usually located in a residentially zoned area."

SECTION 2. Section 237D-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§237D-6 Return and payments; penalties. (a) On or before the last day of each calendar month, every operator taxable, or plan manager liable under this chapter during the preceding calendar month shall file a sworn return with the director in such form as the director shall prescribe together with a remittance for the amount of the tax in the form required by section 237D-6.5. Sections 237-30 and 237-32 shall apply to returns and penalties made under this chapter to the same extent as if the sections were set forth specifically in this section.

(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the director of taxation, for good cause, may permit a taxpayer to file the taxpayer's return required under this section and make payments thereon:

(1) On a quarterly basis during the calendar or fiscal year, the return and payment to be made on or before the last day of the calendar month after the close of each quarter, to wit: for calendar year taxpayers, on or before April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31 or, for fiscal year taxpayers, on or before the last day of the fourth month, seventh month, and tenth month following the beginning of the fiscal year and on or before the last day of the month following the close of the fiscal year; provided that the director is satisfied that the grant of the permit will not unduly jeopardize the collection of the taxes due thereon and the taxpayer's total tax liability for the calendar or fiscal year under this chapter will not exceed $4,000; or

(2) On a semiannual basis during the calendar or fiscal year, the return and payment to be made by or before the last day of the calendar month after the close of each six-month period, to wit: for calendar year taxpayers, on July 31 and January 31 or, for fiscal year taxpayers, on or before the last day of the seventh month following the beginning of the fiscal year and on or before the last day of the month following the close of the fiscal year; provided that the director is satisfied that the grant of the permit will not unduly jeopardize the collection of the taxes due thereon and the taxpayer's total tax liability for the calendar or fiscal year under this chapter will not exceed $2,000.

The director, for good cause, may permit a taxpayer to make monthly payments based on the taxpayer's estimated quarterly or semiannual liability; provided that the taxpayer files a reconciliation return at the end of each quarter or at the end of each six-month period during the calendar or fiscal year, as provided in this section.

(c) If a taxpayer filing the taxpayer's return on a quarterly or semiannual basis, as provided in this section, becomes delinquent in either the filing of the taxpayer's return or the payment of the taxes due thereon, or if the liability of a taxpayer, who possesses a permit to file the taxpayer's return and to make payments on a semiannual basis exceeds $2,000 in transient accommodations taxes during the calendar year or exceeds $4,000 in transient accommodations taxes during the calendar year if making payments on a quarterly basis, or if the director determines that any such quarterly or semiannual filing of return would unduly jeopardize the proper administration of this chapter, including the assessment or collection of the transient accommodations tax, the director, at any time, may revoke a taxpayer's permit, in which case the taxpayer shall then be required to file the taxpayer's return and make payments thereon as provided in subsection (a).

(d) Section 232-2 does not apply to a monthly return.

(e) An operator of a transient residential vacation rental taxable under this chapter, who fails to pay the tax imposed by this chapter, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

SECTION 3. As of June 1, 2006, no new transient residential vacation rental properties shall be granted a transient accommodation tax license. The moratorium shall be in effect until the respective county enacts specific legislation regulating transient residential vacation rentals on property zoned for residential use.

The moratorium shall not include bed and breakfast operations, defined as a transient residential vacation rental operated on premises wherein the owner or lessor lives full-time.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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