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(a) Requests for adjustments involving imposition of this tax may be filed with the Director of Finance. Upon sufficient evidence of error in the computation of the tax the Director of Finance or a designee of the Director of Finance shall cause the tax to be recalculated, and shall so advise the Los Angeles County Tax Collector or other appropriate official.
(b) Whenever it is alleged that the amount of any tax has been overpaid or paid more than once or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City under this article, the refund procedure shall be as follows:
1. No claim for refund of tax payment shall be allowed in whole or in part unless filed with the Director of Finance within a period of three years from the date of the claimed overpayment. All such claims for refund of the amount of the overpayment must be filed on forms furnished, and in the manner prescribed, by the Director of Finance. Refunds may be made from the Special Fire Safety and Paramedic Communications Equipment Tax Fund.
2. In the event the Director of Finance or the City Council denies the claim, the Director of Finance shall notify the claimant pursuant to California Government Code Section 913.
(c) The Director of Finance shall have the same power to compromise claims involving the special tax, and the same power to accept and record underpayments or overpayments of such tax, as granted to the Director of Finance under Subsections (f) and (g) of Section 21.15 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code with respect to Business Taxes. The Director of Finance shall have the same authority to make refunds of this tax as is provided in Sections 22.12 and 22.13 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.
(d) If the County of Los Angeles does not collect any tax due under this article, then the Director of Finance shall have the power and duty to enforce all of the provisions of this article. In such cases the Director of Finance, for taxes not paid, may make an assessment against the owner of a parcel and improvements, or against the owner of improvements on another’s land, in the manner provided in Section 21.16 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code. Any unpaid tax due under this article shall be subject to Sections 21.19, 21.20, and 21.21 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.
(e) The special tax shall be due in two equal installments in accordance with the collection procedures of the Los Angeles County Tax Collector with the first installment due November 1, and the second installment due the next succeeding February 1, in each fiscal year. The owner of the land, land and improvements, or improvements, at the time set forth in California Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 405 and 2192 for each fiscal year, shall have a personal obligation to the City of Los Angeles until the tax is paid for each fiscal year.
(f) The Director of Finance may prepare a questionnaire to be served on the owner of a parcel or improvements subject to the tax imposed by this article. The questionnaire may request information which would be useful to the Director of Finance in the enforcement or administration of this article. The failure by an owner to provide the information requested within 30 days of receipt of the request, or the act of an owner in knowingly providing false information, shall be a misdemeanor.
(g) In determining the gross square footage area of improvements the Director of Finance may use County Assessor’s records, City records, questionnaires and any other records the Director of Finance deems reliable.
If any section, subsection, part, clause, sentence or phrase of this article or the application thereof is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, the validity of the remaining portions of the article, the application thereof, and the tax imposed shall not be affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect, it being the intention of the City Council and the voters to adopt each and every section, subsection, part, clause, sentence or phrase regardless of whether any other section, subsection, part, clause, sentence or phrase or the application thereof is held to be invalid or unconstitutional.
Section
21.15.1 Definitions.
21.15.2 Tax Imposed.
21.15.3 Occupant to Pay Tax to the Operator.
21.15.4 Operator’s Duties.
21.15.5 Exemptions.
21.15.6 Registration of Operators.
21.15.7 Reporting and Remitting.
21.15.8 Penalties and Interest.
21.15.9 Additional Powers and Duties of Director of Finance.
21.15.10 Assessment – Administrative Remedy.
21.15.11 Records.
21.15.12 Refunds.
21.15.13 Actions to Collect.
21.15.14 Savings Clause.
(Added by Ord. No. 165,949, Eff. 7/5/90.)
Except where the context otherwise requires, the definitions given in this section shall govern the construction of this article.
(a) Motor Vehicle. “Motor vehicle” means every self-propelled vehicle operated or suitable for operation on the highway.
(b) Occupancy. “Occupancy” means the use or possession or the right to the use or possession of any space for the parking of a motor vehicle or any other purpose in a parking facility.
(c) Occupant. “Occupant” means a person who, for a consideration, uses, possesses or has the right to use or possess any space for the parking of a motor vehicle in a parking facility under any lease, concession, permit, right of access, license to use or other agreement or otherwise, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Occupant shall be deemed to include any person required to pay any valet or service labor charge in connection with the parking of motor vehicles on public or private property and any person required to pay a charge for the occupancy of parking space by another person by means of validation or otherwise.
(d) Operator. “Operator” means the person who conducts a parking facility, whether in the capacity of owner, lessee, mortgagee in possession, licensee, valet or other service supplier or any other capacity. When the operator performs their functions through a managing agent of any type or character other than an employee, the managing agent shall also be deemed an operator for purposes of this article and shall have the same duties and liabilities as the managing agent’s principal. When the managing agent collects parking fees and tax on behalf of their principal and deposits the same into the principal’s account in a financial institution, such principal shall be responsible for reporting and remitting the tax to the City. It shall be the duty of the managing agent to provide the Director of Finance with the name and address of each principal who will be responsible for reporting and remitting the tax to the City. Compliance with the provisions of this article by either the principal or the managing agent shall be considered to be compliance by both. A person who qualifies as an operator shall not, by reason of being exempt from the tax imposed in this article, be exempt from the duties and liabilities of an operator imposed under this article.
(e) Parking Meter. “Parking meter” means any device which, when the recording device thereof is set in motion, or immediately following the deposit of any coin, shall register the period of time that any motor vehicle may be parked adjacent thereto.
(f) Parking Facility. “Parking facility” means any outdoor space or uncovered plot, place, street, lot, parcel, yard or enclosure, or any portion thereof, or any building or structure, or any portion thereof, where or in which a motor vehicle may be parked, stored, housed or kept, for which any charge is made.
(g) Person. “Person” means any natural person, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, corporation, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, administrator, executor, assignee, trustee in bankruptcy, firm, company, association, club, syndicate, society, municipal corporation, the State of California, political subdivision of the State of California, the United States, instrumentality of the United States, or any group or combination acting as a unit, whether mutual, cooperative, fraternal, nonprofit or otherwise.
(h) Parking Fee. “Parking fee” means the consideration charged, whether or not received, for the occupancy or use of space in a parking facility valued in money, whether 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. The parking fee shall be deemed to include the total charges required to be paid by an occupant, including, but not limited to, any valet or service labor charge in connection with the use or occupancy of parking space on public or private property. Nothing shall be construed to mean that a parking fee is charged to the occupant of space in a parking facility for the sale of petroleum products, automobile parts or other tangible personal property, the rendering of services, including car wash services, totally unconnected with the use or occupancy of parking space, or where parking 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.
For the privilege of occupying space in any parking facility in the City of Los Angeles, each occupant is subject to and shall pay a tax in the amount of ten percent (10%) of the parking fee. The tax imposed by this article shall be paid upon any occupancy on and after August 1, 1990, although such occupancy is pursuant to a contract, lease or other arrangement made prior to such date. Where the parking fee is paid, or charged or billed, or falls due on either a weekly, monthly or other term basis, the parking fee so paid, charged, billed or fallen due shall be subject to the tax herein imposed to the extent that it covers any portion of the period occurring on or after August 1, 1990 and such payment, charge, bill or parking fee due shall be apportioned on the basis of the proration of the number of days covered thereby. In computing the tax herein imposed, the fractional part of one cent shall be disregarded unless it amounts to one-half of one cent or more, in which case the amount shall be increased to the next highest cent. The tax herein imposed constitutes a debt owed by the occupant to the City, which is extinguished by payment to the operator or the City.
Unless prohibited by the laws of the United States or the State of California or exempted by the provisions of this article, every occupant occupying parking space in a parking facility shall be required to pay the tax imposed herein to the operator along with the parking fee for occupancy. If the parking fee is paid in installments, or if an amount paid is less than the full amount of parking fee 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. Any unpaid tax shall be due upon the occupant’s ceasing to occupy parking space in the parking facility. If for any reason the tax is not paid to the operator, the Director of Finance shall require that such tax shall be paid directly to the City. Payment of the tax to the operator does not relieve the occupant of liability for the tax to the City until the tax has been remitted to the City by the operator, unless the occupant has a receipt for the parking fee and tax issued by the operator.
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