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(Title and Section amended by Ord. No. 177,216, Eff. 2/8/06.)
Any person or entity that has a State of California (State) Sales and Use Tax Permit (Permit) shall be eligible to receive a rebate of 20% of the net use tax gain, as described below, received by the City from a purchase, lease, or any other transaction that is subject to use tax and in which the City of Los Angeles (City) is properly identified as the jurisdiction in which the property acquired under the permit is first functionally used, stored or consumed. A person or entity must file a claim for a use tax rebate with the Director of Finance (Director) within one year from the payment of the use tax to the State. The claim must contain documentation to substantiate the rebate. The Director may request from the claimant any other information necessary to substantiate the rebate claim.
The Director shall issue the rebate after verification that the City received the correct amount of funds from the State. The use tax rebate shall be 20% of the difference between the amount of use tax actually received by the City because the Permit was used and the amount of use tax the City would have received if the tax had been allocated to the Los Angles Countywide pool. The rebate shall be paid directly to the claimant but shall be increased or decreased in accordance with any adjustment made by the State to a prior use tax payment by the claimant.
The City reserves the right to amend or discontinue any provision of this program without voter approval. Any amendment shall be made by ordinance and shall be applicable to any transaction made subsequent to the effective date of any ordinance.
(Added by Ord. No. 127,757, Eff. 7/31/64, Operative 8/1/64.)
Section
21.7.1 Title.
21.7.2 Definitions.
21.7.3 Tax Imposed.
21.7.4 Exemptions.
21.7.5 Operator’s Duties.
21.7.6 Registration.
21.7.7 Reporting and Remitting.
21.7.8 Penalties and Interest.
21.7.9 Additional Powers and Duties of Director of Finance, Etc.
21.7.10 Assessment – Administrative Remedy.
21.7.11 Records.
21.7.12 Refunds.
21.7.13 Actions to Collect.
Except where the context otherwise requires, the definitions given in this section govern the construction of this article.
(a) Person. “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, social club, fraternal organization, joint stock company, corporation, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, trustee, syndicate or any other group or combination acting as a unit.
(b) Hotel. “Hotel” means any structure, or any portion of any structure, which is occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes, and includes any hotel, inn, tourist home or house, Short-Term Rental as defined in Section 12.22 A.31. of this Code, Home- Sharing as defined in Section 12.03 of this Code, motel, studio, hotel, bachelor hotel, lodging house, rooming house, apartment house, dormitory, public or private club, or other similar structure or portion thereof, and shall further include any trailer court, camp, park or lot where trailer spaces, or combinations of such spaces and trailers, including mobile homes, are occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes. (Amended by Ord. No. 185,931, Eff. 7/1/19.)
(c) Occupancy. “Occupancy” means the use or possession, or the right to the use or possession of any room or rooms or space or portion thereof, in any hotel for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes. The use or possession or right to use or possess any room or any suite of connecting rooms as office space, banquet or private dining rooms, or exhibit, sample or display space shall not be considered “occupancy” within the meaning of this definition unless the person exercising occupancy uses or possesses, or has the right to use or possess all or any portion of such room or suite of rooms for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes.
(d) Transient. (Amended by Ord. No. 164,961, Eff. 7/24/89, Oper. 8/1/89.) “Transient” means:
1. Any person, other than an individual, who exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy by reason of concession, permit, right of access, license or other agreement, for any period of time, or
2. Any individual who personally exercises occupancy or is entitled to occupancy by reason of concession, permit, right of access, license or other agreement, for a period of 30 consecutive calendar days or less, counting portions of calendar days as full days. Any such individual so occupying space in a hotel shall be deemed to be a transient until the period of 30 days has expired unless there is an agreement in writing between the operator and the occupant providing for a longer period of occupancy.
Nothing in this definition or in this article shall be construed as prohibiting the operator of a hotel from refunding or making an allowance of credit to a person who has paid tax as required by this article where it is established that the person was not a “transient” as defined in this section or was exempt from the tax for any other reason, or had for any reason overpaid the tax.
(e) Rent. “Rent” means the consideration charged, whether or not received, for the occupancy of space in a hotel valued in money, whether to be received in money, goods, labor or otherwise, including all receipts, cash, credits and property and services of any kind or nature, without any deduction therefrom whatsoever. Nothing in this definition shall be construed to mean that rent is charged directly or indirectly for the occupancy of space in a hotel when that space is provided to the occupant as a compliment from the operator and where no consideration is charged to or received from any other person.
(f) Operator. “Operator” means the person who is either the proprietor of the hotel or any other person who has the right to rent rooms within the hotel, whether in the capacity of owner, lessee, mortgagee in possession, licensee or any other capacity. The owner or proprietor who is primarily responsible for operation of the hotel shall be deemed to be the principal operator. If the principal operator performs or assigns its functions, in whole or in part, through a managing agent, a booking agent, a room seller or room reseller, or any other agent or contractee, including but not limited to Hosting Platforms as defined in 12.03 of this Code, on-line room sellers, on-line room resellers, and on-line travel agents, of any type or character other than an employee, those persons shall be deemed to be secondary operators. (Amended by Ord. No. 185,931, Eff. 7/1/19.)
A secondary operator shall be deemed an operator for purposes of this article and shall have the same duties and liabilities as the principal operator, including, but not limited to, the collection and remittance of the full amount of the tax owed under the provisions of this article to the City. A secondary operator may satisfy its obligations under the provisions of this article by submitting the full amount of tax due under this article, with credit for any taxes remitted to any other operator, either directly to the Director of Finance or through the principal operator. (Amended by Ord. No. 187,778, Eff. 4/10/23.)
Compliance with the provisions of this article by either the principal operator or the secondary operator shall be deemed compliance by both and no provision of this article shall be deemed to require the payment and/or remittance of any amount other than the full amount of the tax owed by the transient.
For the privilege of occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to and shall pay a tax in the amount of four percent (4%) of the rent charged by the operator on or after August 1, 1964, to and including October 31, 1967; and at the rate of five percent (5%) from that date to and including February 28, 1971; and at the rate of six percent (6%) from that date to and including June 30, 1978; and at the rate of seven and one-half percent (7.5%) from that date to and including June 30, 1983; and at the rate of ten percent (10%) from that date to and including December 31, 1985; and at the rate of eleven percent (11%) from that date to and including December 31, 1987; and at the rate of twelve percent (12%) from that date to and including August 31, 1990; and at the rate of twelve and one-half percent (12.5%) from that date to and including July 31, 1993; and at the rate of fourteen percent (14%) thereafter. (Amended by Ord. No. 168,850, Eff. 8/1/93.) Said tax constitutes a debt owed by the transient to the City which is extinguished by the payment to the operator or to the City. The transient shall pay the tax to the operator of the hotel at the time the rent is paid. If the rent is paid in installments, or if an amount paid is less than the full amount of rent and tax accrued at the time of payment, a proportionate share of the tax shall be deemed to have been paid with each such payment or installment. The unpaid tax shall be due upon the transient’s ceasing to occupy space in the hotel. If for any reason the tax is not paid to the operator of the hotel, the Director of Finance may require that such tax shall be paid directly to the City.
(Amended by Ord. No. 159,773, Eff. 5/25/85.)
No tax shall be imposed upon:
(a) Any person as to whom, or any occupancy as to which, it is beyond the power of the City to impose the tax herein provided;
(b) Any Federal or State of California officer or employee, including employees of federal credit unions, who provides proof that the officer or employee is on official Federal or State business. (Amended by Ord. No. 172,773, Eff. 9/25/99.)
(c) Any officer or employee of a foreign government who is exempt by express provision of federal law or international treaty;
(d) Any person to whom rent is charged at the rate of $2.00 per day or less;
(e) Any person as to whom, or any occupancy as to which, rent is paid from funds administered by the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program.
No exemption shall be granted under Subsections (a), (b) or (c) except upon a claim therefor made at the time rent is collected and under penalty of perjury upon a form prescribed by the Director of Finance.
It shall be the duty of an operator to keep and maintain for a period of four (4) years written documentation in support of each exemption granted under Subsection (e).
Each operator shall collect the tax imposed by this article to the same extent and at the same time as the rent is collected from every transient. The amount of tax shall be separately stated from the amount of the rent charged and each transient shall receive a receipt for payment from the operator. No operator of a hotel shall advertise or state in any manner, whether directly or indirectly, that the tax or any part thereof will be assumed or absorbed by the operator, or that it will not be added to the rent, or that, if added, any part will be refunded except in the manner herein provided.
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