(A) All persons (as defined by W. Va. Code § 7-18-3) who offer to the public, sleeping accommodations for consideration within the town and not specifically excluded under W. Va. Code § 7-18-15, are subject to compliance with this order and liable for the hotel occupancy tax of the town.
(B) The hotel occupancy tax shall be paid monthly to the town. The hotel occupancy tax shall be paid by the consumer on room occupancy only and collected by the person offering the sleeping accommodations and shall be set out separately on all documents and records of the transaction.
(C) All persons subject to this order shall pay all hotel occupancy tax due to the town and shall be personally liable for failure or refusal to do so.
(D) All persons subject to this order shall maintain complete and accurate records of all hotel occupancy tax transactions and the same shall be made available to the Mayor upon request at all reasonable times.
(E) All persons subject to this order shall file, with the town, on the form prescribed by the Mayor, a return on or before the fifteenth day of each month for the preceding month, setting out all hotel occupancy transactions for that month. Any person who shall fail to file on or before the fifteenth day of the succeeding month, a return for any month wherein hotel occupancy tax was accrued or paid in addition to the tax owed and any additions thereto, shall be subject to a late filing fine of $15 per month until such return is properly filed with the town. From and after the filing of a return by any person subject to hotel occupancy tax for the first time, such person shall thereafter file a return for each and every month whether hotel occupancy tax is due or not until such time as such person is no longer subject to hotel occupancy tax.
(F) All persons subject to this order and therefore required to file a monthly hotel occupancy tax return shall also pay over to the town all hotel occupancy tax collected by such persons on or before the fifteenth day of each month for the preceding month. Any person who shall fail to pay over to the town all hotel occupancy tax due on or before the fifteenth day of the succeeding month shall, in addition to the tax owed and any additions thereto, shall be subject to a late payment fine of $15.
(G) In addition to the foregoing fines for late filing and late payment of hotel occupancy tax, there is hereby imposed a delinquency penalty of 5% on all hotel occupancy tax due for the delinquent period as well as an additional 1% delinquency penalty per month thereafter until paid.
(H) The Mayor is hereby authorized to prepare and issue such notices of noncompliance or delinquency that the Mayor deems to be in the best interest of the town but the Mayor is not required to issue any such notices.
(I) The Mayor shall on a regular basis but no less than one time a year present a report to the Town Council as to the status of the hotel occupancy tax for the town. Such report shall contain a statement as to collections of hotel occupancy tax, fines, penalties, enforcement efforts, criminal prosecutions and such other information deemed appropriate by the Mayor or requested by the Town Council.
(Ord. passed 5-7-2018)