(a) Each vendor 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 vendor to the City 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 vendor 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 vendors 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 City, 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 vendor 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 vendor 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 vendor for a period of one year, as determined by the Administrator for a review of returns or other information pertaining to such vendor, 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 vendor. The security shall be filed within ten days following the vendor's receipt of the notice from the Administrator of its requirements. A corporate surety bond filed under this section shall be returned to the vendor if, for a period of twelve consecutive months following the date the bond was filed, the vendor has filed all returns and remitted payment therewith within the time prescribed in this chapter.
(e) Each vendor shall file all claims for exemption from lodging tax filed by transient guests with the vendor during the reporting period with the return.
(f) The Administrator shall treat all returns and payments submitted by vendors 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 City, 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. 19-94. Passed 5-9-94.)