(a) Each operator shall, on or before the 15th day of the month following the close of each calendar month, or at the close of any shorter reporting period which may be established by the Tax Commissioner, make a return to the Tax Commissioner, on forms obtainable from him or her, of the total rents charged and received and the amount of tax collected for transient occupancies. All claims for exemption from tax filed by occupants with the operator during the reporting period shall be filed with the report. At the time the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be remitted to the Tax Commissioner. The Tax Commissioner may establish shorter reporting periods for any certificate holder if he or she deems it necessary in order to ensure collection of the tax and he or she may require further information in the return if the information is pertinent to the collection of the tax. Returns and payments are due immediately upon cessation of business for any reason. All taxes collected by operators pursuant to this chapter shall be held in trust for the account of the city until payment thereof is made to the Tax Commissioner. All returns and payments submitted by each operator shall be treated as confidential by the Tax Commissioner and shall not be released by him or her 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. The nonavailability or failure to obtain forms shall not relieve an operator from timely paying the tax.
(b) No person, including any officer of a corporation or employee of a corporation having control or supervision of or charged with the responsibility of filing returns, shall fail to file any return or report required to be filed by this chapter, or file or cause to be filed any incomplete, false or fraudulent return, report or statement, or aid or abet another in the filing of any false or fraudulent return, report or statement.
(c) If any operator required to file monthly returns under this chapter fails, on two consecutive months within a 12-month period, to file the returns when due or to pay the tax thereon, or if any operator authorized by the Tax Commissioner to file returns at less frequent intervals, fails on two or more occasions within a 24-month period, to file returns when due or to pay the tax due thereon, the Tax Commissioner may require the operator to furnish security in an amount equal to the average tax liability of the operator for a period of one year, as determined by the Tax Commissioner from a review of returns or other information pertaining to the operator, which amount shall in no event be less than $100. The security may be in the form of an advance tax payment to be applied to pay the tax due on subsequent returns, or a corporate surety bond, satisfactory to the Tax Commissioner, conditioned upon payment of the tax due with the returns from the operator. The security must be filed within ten days following the operator’s receipt of the notice from the Tax Commissioner of its requirements. A corporate surety bond filed under this section shall be returned to the operator if, for a period of 12 consecutive months following the date the bond was filed, the operator has filed all returns and remitted payment therewith within the time prescribed in this chapter.
(d) If any operator required to file returns and to remit tax due to the city under the provisions of this chapter, fails for any reason to make the filing or payment, any of its officers or employees having control or supervision of or charged with the responsibility of filing returns and making payments, shall be personally liable for the failure. The dissolution of a corporation shall not discharge an officer’s or employee’s liability for a prior failure of the corporation to file returns or remit tax due. The sum due for the liability may be collected by assessment in the manner provided in this chapter.
(Ord. 36-1978, passed 5-8-1978)