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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.
(a) Within 30 days after the operative date of this article, or within 30 days after commencing business, whichever is later, each operator of any hotel renting occupancy to transients shall register said hotel with the Director of Finance and obtain from the Director a “Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate” to be at all times posted in a conspicuous place on the premises. Said certificate shall, among other things, state the following:
1. The name of the operator;
2. The address of the hotel;
3. The date upon which the certificate was issued;
4. “This Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate signifies that the person named on the face hereof has fulfilled the requirements of the Uniform Transient Occupancy Tax Ordinance by registering with the Director of Finance for the purpose of collecting from transients the Transient Occupancy Tax and remitting said tax to the Director of Finance. This certificate does not authorize any person to conduct any unlawful business or to conduct any lawful business in an unlawful manner, nor to operate a hotel without strictly complying with all local applicable laws, including but not limited to those requiring a permit from any board, commission, department or office of this City. This certificate does not constitute a permit.”
(Amended by Ord. No. 176,003, Eff. 7/7/04, Oper. 1/1/05.)
Each operator shall, on or before the 25th day of each calendar month, make a statement to the Director of Finance of the total rents charged and received, and the amount of tax collected for transient occupancies during the preceding calendar month. At the time the statement is filed, the full amount of the tax collected and tax not collected but required to be collected, shall be remitted to the Director of Finance. Except as provided in Sec. 21.7.8, an operator shall not be required to remit to the Director of Finance any amount of tax not collected and not required to be collected from a transient. All taxes collected and required to be collected by operators pursuant to this article shall be held in trust for the account of the City until payment thereof is made to the City. The full amount of tax due, whether collected or owed but not collected, under this Article shall be deemed a debt owed to the City by the operator and shall be discharged only upon payment to the City.
Statements and payments are due immediately upon cessation of business for any reason, at which time the operator shall furnish the Director of Finance with the name and address of the successor operator.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the amount of taxes required to be remitted by an operator to the City pursuant to this Section 21.7.7 shall be automatically offset by the City in an amount equal to special taxes levied, collected and satisfied, by a City Community Tax District, formed pursuant to Division 6, Chapter 10 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code, against the operator’s property during the preceding calendar month. The sum of the operator’s monthly transient occupancy tax remittance to the City and the operator’s monthly special tax payment shall equal the amount of transient occupancy tax required to be collected pursuant to this Article. The City may request from the applicable operator or the legislative body of the Community Taxing District documentation or other information necessary to substantiate the special tax payment. (Added by Ord. No. 177,052, Eff. 11/20/05.)
The automatic tax offset of the transient occupancy taxes due pursuant to this Article shall not exceed the rate of transient occupancy tax levied by the City, and no tax offset shall be provided for the amount of special taxes paid by an operator in excess of the rate of transient occupancy tax levied by the City. (Added by Ord. No. 177,052, Eff. 11/20/05.)
(a) Taxes collected by an operator which are not remitted to the Director of Finance on or before the due dates fixed in Sec. 21.7.7, or fixed by the Director of Finance as provided therein, are delinquent.
(b) Interest and penalties for delinquency in remittance of any tax collected or required to be collected, or any deficiency determination, shall attach and be paid by the operator at the rates and in the same manner as is provided in Section 21.05 of this Chapter for delinquency in the payment of Business Tax, except that a month shall commence on the 26th day of each calendar month and terminate on the 25th day of the succeeding calendar month. (Amended by Ord. No. 176,471, Eff. 3/22/05, Oper. 1/1/05.)
(c) The Director of Finance shall have power to impose additional penalties upon an operator for fraud and negligence in reporting and remitting in the same manner and at the same rates as are provided in Sec. 21.05 of this chapter for such penalties upon persons required to pay Business Tax.
(d) For collection purposes only, every penalty imposed and such interest as accrues under the provisions of this section shall become a part of the tax herein required to be remitted. (Amended by Ord. No. 174,085, Eff. 8/19/01.)
(a) The Director of Finance shall have the power and duty, and is hereby directed to enforce each and all of the provisions of this article.
(b) In administering and enforcing the provisions of this article, the Director of Finance shall have the same powers and duties with respect to collecting the tax provided herein as the Director of Finance has under Sec. 21.15 of this chapter with respect to collecting the Business Tax.
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