The Association will continue to advocate for the statutory clarification of the definition of transient rentals to include intermediary transactions via internet resellers.
FOR INFORMATION ON CURRENT LITIGATION INVOVLING COUNTIES AND ONLINE TRAVEL COMPANIES PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING SITE: FAC: Litigation Watch
Attorney General Lawsuit
Attorney General Bill McCollum announced on November 3, 2009 that his office has sued Expedia, Inc., Orbitz, LLC, and Orbitz, Inc., the leading internet travel companies, asking for a declaratory judgment that the companies’ failure to remit the appropriate amount of taxes on hotel room rentals is a violation of Florida law. For more information please visit the following site: Attorney General Asks Court to Clarify Florida Tax Issue
Federal Action
To view most recent NACo legislative alert involving Federal action and online travel companies please visit the following site: Action Needed: Act Now to Protect Hotel Tax Revenues
Current law authorizes five separate tourist development taxes on transient rental transactions. Depending on a county’s eligibility to levy, the maximum tax rate varies from a minimum of 3 percent to a maximum of 6 percent. The levies may be authorized by vote of the county’s governing body or referendum approval. Generally, the revenues may be used for capital construction of tourist-related facilities, tourist promotion, and beach and shoreline maintenance; however, the authorized uses vary according to the particular levy.
It is the Legislature’s intent that every person who rents, leases, or lets for consideration any living quarters or accommodations in any hotel, apartment hotel, motel, resort motel, apartment, apartment motel, rooming house, mobile home park, recreational vehicle park, or condominium for a term of six months or less is exercising a taxable privilege, unless such person rents, leases, or lets for consideration any living quarters or accommodations which are exempt according to the provisions of Ch. 212, F.S.
The tax shall be charged by the person receiving the consideration for rent or lease at the time of payment for such lease or rental. Such person is responsible for receiving, accounting for, and remitting any applicable tax to the (Department of Revenue) DOR. The DOR shall keep records showing the amount of taxes collected, including records disclosing the amount of taxes collected from each county in which a tax is levied. The DOR shall promulgate such rules and publish such forms as necessary to enforce these taxes. A county may exempt itself from the requirements that the tax be administered by the DOR according to Ch. 212, F.S., if the county adopts an ordinance providing for local collection and administration of the tax.
The booking of discounted hotel rooms over the Internet by such organizations as Priceline.com and Expedia.com has skyrocketed over the past several years. Internet intermediaries contract to pay discounted rates to hotels for rooms that are then sold over the Internet to the intermediaries’ customers at higher prices. Under current practices, state and local sales tax and local tourist-related taxes are collected and remitted by the hotels on the discounted rates paid by the Internet intermediaries to the hotels and not on the higher amounts paid by the customers occupying the rooms. As a result, state and local governments are not receiving both sales tax and tourist-related tax revenues on the facilitation fee.
Transient rentals represent a revenue base for both state and local government. Transient rentals involve the rental or lease of any living quarters or accommodations in any hotel, apartment motel, rooming house, mobile home park, recreational vehicle park, or condominium for a term of 6 months or less. Section 212.03, F.S., imposes the state’s 6 percent sales tax on transient rentals. Section 212.054, F.S., provides that local discretionary sales surtaxes apply to transactions that are subject to state sales tax. Section 125.0104, F.S., authorizes counties to impose tourist development taxes on transient rentals.