A. All tax monies collected or segregated or required to be collected or segregated by a buyer or seller are funds of the city and shall be held in trust by the collector until paid over to the city. Interest earned on such funds while held by the collector may be retained by the collector.
B. Taxes required to be collected under this chapter during a calendar month are due and payable to the city on the 15th day of the month following the month in which they were collected, except for taxes collected by a buyer or seller who had less than $2.5 million in gross sales in the previous calendar year, which shall be due and payable on the last day of each calendar quarter. Every buyer and seller liable for the collection of the tax shall file with the city on forms furnished by the city a return containing the following information:
1. gross sales;
2. non-taxable sales separately stating the amount of sales revenue attributable to each class of exemption;
3. taxable sales during each month;
4. taxes collected on taxable sales;
5. interest, penalties and deductions;
6. with regard to raw seafood products purchased, the number of pounds of shellfish and finfish purchased, broken down by species;
7. such other information as may be required on the form.
C. The return shall be signed and its completeness and accuracy sworn to by the buyer or seller under penalty of perjury.
D. The complete return, together with the remittance of the tax required to be collected during the month, must be received by the city at the address designated on the return form on or before the 15th calendar day of the month following the end of the month for which the return is required. In the case of a buyer or seller who is required to remit taxes quarterly, the return and remittance of the tax must be received by the city on or before the last business day of the month following the end of the calendar quarter for which the return is required.
E. Any buyer or seller who was required to collect a tax during a month or calendar quarter shall file a return for the next following month or calendar quarter even though no tax may be due during the following month or quarter. A return filed for a month or quarter in which no tax was required to be collected must show why no tax was collected or is due.
F. If a complete return accompanied by the entire tax due is received by the city within the time allowed, the person collecting the tax may deduct and retain up to two percent of the tax due as compensation for its costs of administration of the tax; however, the amount deducted and retained may not exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) for any calendar quarter.
G. Amounts received with the return shall be applied in the following order:
1. penalties due, beginning with the oldest penalty;
2. interest due, beginning with the interest due on the oldest month; and
3. taxes due, beginning with the taxes due from the oldest month.
(Ord. 77-01 (part), 1977; Ord. 80-05 § 3, 1980; Ord. 81-04 § 1 (part), 1981; Ord. 88-11 § 4, 1988; Ord. 89-02 § 3, 1989; Ord. 98-07, § 1, 4-7-98)