(a) (1) Each operator shall keep complete and accurate records of lodging furnished, together with a record of the lodging tax collected thereon, which shall be the amount due under this chapter and shall keep all invoices and such other pertinent documents. If the operator furnishes lodging not subject to the lodging tax, the operator’s records shall show the identity of the transient guest, if the sale was exempted by reason of such identity, or the nature of the transaction if exempted for any other reason. Such records shall be open during business hours to the inspection of the Tax Administrator (hereinafter also referred to as “Administrator”) and shall be preserved for a period of five years, unless the Administrator in writing either consents to their destruction within that period or by order requires that they be kept longer.
(2) Each operator shall on or before the last day of the month make and file a return for the preceding month, on forms furnished by the Administrator, showing the receipts from lodging furnished, the amount of lodging tax due from the operator to the Village for the period covered by the return, and such other information as the Administrator deems necessary for the proper administration of the lodging tax. All returns shall be signed by the operator or its authorized agent. The Administrator may extend the time for making and filing returns. Returns shall be filed by delivering or mailing the same to the Administrator together with payment of the full amount of lodging tax shown to be due thereon.
(b) The Administrator may authorize operators whose lodging tax liability is not such as to merit monthly returns, as determined by the Administrator upon the basis of administrative costs of the Village, to make and file returns at less frequent intervals. Such authorization shall be in writing and shall indicate the intervals at which returns are to be filed.
(c) The Administrator may, if it is deemed necessary in order to ensure the payment of the lodging tax, require returns and payment to be made for other than monthly periods.
(d) The Administrator may order any operator required to file monthly returns under this chapter who fails, on two consecutive months or on three or more months within a twelve- month period, to file such returns when due or to pay the lodging tax thereon, or any operator authorized by the Administrator to file returns at less frequent intervals, who fails on two or more occasions within a twenty-four month period, to file such returns when due or pay the lodging tax due thereon, to furnish security in an amount equal to the average lodging tax liability of the operator for a period of one year, as determined by the Administrator for a review of returns or other information pertaining to such operator, which amount shall in no event be less than one hundred dollars ($100.00). The security may be in the form of an advance payment to be applied to pay the lodging tax due on subsequent returns, or a corporate surety bond, satisfactory to the Administrator, conditioned upon payment of the lodging tax due with the returns from the operator. The security shall be filed within ten days following the operator’s receipt of the notice from the Administrator of its requirements. A corporate surety bond filed under this section shall be returned to the operator if, for a period of twelve consecutive months following the date the bond was filed, the operator has filed all returns and remitted payment therewith within the time prescribed in this chapter.
(e) Each operator shall file all claims for exemption from lodging tax filed by transient guests with the operator during the reporting period with the return.
(f) The Administrator shall treat all returns and payments submitted by operators as confidential and shall not release them except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction or to an officer or agent of the United States, the State, the county, or the Village, for official use only.
(g) All returns shall bear the mark of the date received and shall also reflect the amount of payment received therewith.
(Ord. 2007-15. Passed 12-18-07.)