Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
— OAKLAND — Garrett County commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday a resolution to raise the Hotel Rental Accommodations Tax rate from 5 percent to 6 percent, effective July 1.
The commission also voted to discuss the implementation of the increased rate after hearing from a representative from Taylor-made Deep Creek Vacations.
The representative stressed that the company understood the need for a rate increase and asked the commission to allow for more of a transition period, explaining that updates of company software will be necessary in order to compensate for the new increase. The representative also said that the company wasn’t happy with the process of notification.
The commission followed the same procedure of notification in the summer of 2005, when the rate was increased from 4 percent to 5 percent, according to Wendy Yoder, director for the Department of Financial Services.
Because of the hardships of those rental contracts, the county decided to amend the reporting procedure in advance, according to the notification sent to county rental agencies.
“Contracts and confirmed reservations made prior to the receipt of this notification will be honored at the 5 percent tax rate,” said the email notification that the rental agencies received form the county.
“You will be required to submit taxes calculated at the new rate of 6 percent for contracts and reservations made after the receipt of this notification for all arrivals July 1, 2012, and after. What this means is that for any month whereby you are remitting the tax to the county that includes tax collected at both rates, you must remit your gross rental receipt to us broken down by the rate at which they were collected.”
For example, if a gross rental receipts in a given month is $6,000 and charged taxes at the rate of 5 percent on $2,000 and 6 percent on $4,00 then the remittance must be broken down that way, according to the notification. Hotel rental tax collected on the amount would total $340, with $100 collected on the 5 percent rate and $240 collected on the 6 percent rate.
The hotel rental tax is due to the county by the 21st of each month. If it’s not remitted by that date, penalty and interest charges will apply.
The rate increase resolution came about after the requested legislation was passed in General Assembly and was approved by Gov. Martin O’Malley, according to Chairman Jim Raley.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com
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