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(a) Occupancy of rooms by the Federal government or by the State or City of New York or by an agency of such governments, is not subject to the tax. Employees and representatives of such governments and agencies, who occupy rooms solely for official purposes, are not required to pay the tax, providing that they furnish to the operator certificates on the form prescribed by the Commissioner, certifying that the rent has been or will be paid by the governmental agency concerned.
(b) Ambassadors, ministers and other diplomatic representatives of foreign governments properly accredited to the United States, are exempt from tax upon their occupancy of rooms. Such exemption does not apply to consular officers or to officers of foreign governments other than those hereinabove specified, unless such exemption arises from treaties or reciprocal agreements existing between such foreign governments and the United States. A person claiming exemption from the tax under this subdivision is required to apply in writing therefor to the Commissioner of Finance, submitting with his application a copy or other evidence of the appropriate treaty or reciprocal agreement between his government and the United States. If the request for exemption is approved, a letter of exemption will be issued to the applicant, and a copy of such letter must be submitted to the operator whenever claim for exemption is made.
(a) Every operator is required to file a certificate of registration in a form prescribed by the Commissioner of Finance. In the case of operators commencing business or opening new hotels the certificate is required to be filed with the Commissioner of Finance within three days after such commencement or opening. An operator of a hotel having 10 or more rooms or 10 or more apartments or living units offered for lodging of guests is deemed to have commenced business or opened a new hotel when such rooms are first offered to the public. In the case of a building or portion of a building having fewer than 10 rooms or fewer than 10 apartments or living units offered for lodging of guests, the operator will be considered to have commenced business or to have opened a hotel as of the first date that the rental of such rooms or living units exceeds either of the de minimis thresholds described in subsection a of 19 RCNY § 12-01 (i.e., such rooms or units are rented on three or more occasions or for more than 14 days in the aggregate) during any four consecutive quarterly tax periods, or, beginning on and after March 1, 2005, during any twelve-month tax period. Within five days after such registration, the Commissioner of Finance shall issue, without charge, to each operator, a certificate of authority empowering such operator to collect the tax from the occupant, and, in addition, a certificate of authority for each additional hotel of such operator. Each certificate shall state the hotel to which it is applicable. Such certificate of authority must be prominently displayed by the operator in such manner that it may be seen and come to the notice of all occupants and persons seeking occupancy. Such certificates are not assignable or transferable and must be surrendered immediately to the Commissioner of Finance upon the cessation of business at the hotel named therein, or upon its sale or transfer, together with an affidavit setting forth the pertinent details of such cessation. An operator of fewer than 10 rooms or 10 apartments or living units, after having registered, is not deemed to have ceased business merely because the rental of rooms or living units falls below the de minimis thresholds set forth in the last paragraph of the definition of "hotel" contained in 19 RCNY § 12-01 during a subsequent quarterly or annual period unless the operator has filed annual reports for each of the immediately preceding three annual periods showing no rooms available for rental to transients (i.e., guests other than permanent residents). If the business is continued at the same place, but there is a change in the form of the organization, such as from a single proprietorship to a partnership or corporation, the operator is required to return his certificate for cancellation, and the successor is required to file a new application for a certificate of authority.
(b) Registration hereunder is separate and apart from registration under the Sales Tax, and the operator who is registered under the Sales Tax must also register under the Tax on Occupancy of Hotel Rooms.
(a) Except as provided herein, every operator shall file with the Commissioner of Finance a return of occupancy and of rents, and of the taxes payable thereon, on the form prescribed by the Commissioner of Finance, for the quarterly periods ending on the last day of February, May, August, and November of each year. Notwithstanding the foregoing, with respect to tax periods beginning on and after the first day of September, 2004, (i) an operator of a hotel having fewer than 10 rooms may file the above return for each such hotel on an annual basis for each twelve-month period ending on the last day of February of each year, and (ii) an operator of fewer than 10 furnished apartments or living units may file the above return on an annual basis for each twelve-month period ending on the last day of February of each year covering all such apartments or living units. Such returns shall be filed within twenty days after the last day of each such period. For the period beginning September 1, 2004 and ending February 28, 2005, an operator of fewer than 10 apartments or living units or of a hotel having fewer than 10 rooms may file the above return for each such hotel or apartments or living units covering that period on or before March 21, 2005. An operator of fewer than 10 rooms or fewer than 10 apartments or living units, after having registered, is required to file a return for each subsequent quarterly or annual period thereafter regardless of whether the rental of rooms or living units falls below the de minimis thresholds set forth in the last paragraph of the definition of "hotel" contained in 19 RCNY § 12-01 during a subsequent quarterly or annual period unless the operator has filed annual reports for each of the immediately preceding three annual periods showing no rooms available for rental to transients (i.e., guests other than permanent residents). An operator who ceased business must file a final return within twenty days from the date such business ceased, covering the period or portion of the period during which he conducted such business subsequent to the period for which a return was last required to be filed. If the business was sold, the purchaser thereof must file a return for the period from the date of purchase to the end of the period of which a return is required to be filed. An operator of fewer than 10 rooms or 10 apartments or living units, after having registered, is not deemed to have ceased business merely because the rental of rooms or living units falls below the de minimis thresholds set forth in the last paragraph of the definition of "hotel" contained in 19 RCNY § 12-01 during a subsequent quarterly or annual period unless the operator has filed annual reports for each of the immediately preceding three annual periods showing no rooms available for rental to transients (i.e., guests other than permanent residents). Whenever an operator is not required to charge or collect the tax, the Commissioner of Finance may, upon application in writing made by such operator, waive the requirement for the filing of returns. All returns must be filed with the Bureau of Tax Operations of the Department of Finance at the address designated on the return form. The return of an individual must be signed by such individual unless he is absent from the City, ill or otherwise incapacitated, in which event the return may be signed by his duly authorized representative or agent. The return of a corporation must be signed by an officer thereof; the return of a partnership must be signed by a general partner thereof. The Commissioner of Finance may, for good cause, extend the time for filing any return for a period not exceeding 30 days.
(b) At the time of filing a return, each operator shall pay to the Commissioner of Finance the tax due, as well as all other monies collected by the operator acting or purporting to act under the law even though it is determined that the tax collected was invalidly imposed. The tax for the period for which a return is required to be filed shall be due from the operator and payable to the Commissioner of Finance on the date prescribed for the filing of such return for such period, without regard to whether a return is filed or whether the return which is filed correctly shows the amount of rent and the tax due thereon. Payment of the tax shall be made in cash, or by check, money order or draft drawn to the order of the City Collector. Cash payments must be made only to cashiers designated for that purpose. Under no circumstances should cash be sent by mail. Postage stamps will not be accepted in payment of tax.
(c) The Commissioner of Finance may require any operator within the City to file an information return, on a form prescribed by the Commissioner of Finance, at such time and containing such information as the Commissioner of Finance deems necessary for the proper administration of the law.
(d) Electronic filing and payment. Pursuant to 19 RCNY § 17-03, the Commissioner may authorize the electronic filing of returns and reports and the electronic payment of tax required by this chapter.
(a) The law requires that upon every taxable occupancy, the operator shall charge and collect the tax from the occupant. The tax to be collected must be charged and stated separately from the rent and shown separately on any record thereof, at the time when the occupancy is contracted and charged for. The tax shall also be stated and separately charged upon every evidence of occupancy or any bill or statement of charge made for said occupancy issued or delivered by the operator. The tax shall be paid by the occupant to the operator as trustee for and on account of the City, and kept separate from all other funds in the possession of the operator and the operator shall be liable for the collection thereof and for the tax. The operator and any officer of any corporate operator shall be personally liable for the tax collected or required to be collected under the law. The operator shall have the same right in respect to collecting the tax from the occupant, or in respect to nonpayment of the tax by the occupant, as if the tax were a part of the rent for the occupancy payable at the time such tax shall become due and owing, including all rights of eviction, dispossession, repossession and enforcement of any innkeeper's lien that he may have in the event of nonpayment of rent by the occupant; provided, however, that the Commissioner of Finance shall be joined as a party in any action or proceeding brought by the operator to collect or enforce collection of the tax.
(b) No operator may absorb the tax required to be collected, or tell the occupant that he will pay such tax, nor may he advertise or hold out to the public in any manner, directly or indirectly, that the tax is not deemed to be an element in the rent. Any operator and any officer of a corporate operator or partner in a partnership which is an operator who willfully fails to charge the tax separately from the rent, or willfully fails to state the tax separately from the rent, or willfully fails to or refuses to collect the tax from the occupant, or refers or causes reference to be made to the tax in any invoice, placard or advertisement in a form other than that required by law, is guilty of a misdemeanor. (See: 19 RCNY § 12-11 for penalties.)
(c) Where the occupant has failed to pay and the operator has failed to collect the tax imposed by law, then, in addition to all other rights, obligations and remedies, such tax shall be payable by the occupant directly to the Commissioner of Finance, and it shall be the duty of the occupant to file a return thereof with the Commissioner of Finance and to pay the tax so imposed to the Commissioner of Finance within 15 days after such tax was due.
(d) All monies collected by the operator or charged by him while acting, or purporting to act, under the law must be paid to the City, even though it is judicially determined that the tax was invalidly imposed.
(a) Where the Commissioner of Finance in his discretion deems it necessary to protect revenues to be obtained under the law, he may require any operator required to collect the tax to file with him a bond, issued by a surety company authorized to transact business in New York State and approved by the Superintendent of Insurance of New York as to solvency and responsibility, in such amount as the Commissioner of Finance may fix, to secure the payment of any tax and/or penalties and interest due or which may become due from such operator. In the event that the Commissioner of Finance determines that an operator is to file such bond he shall give notice to such operator to that effect, specifying the amount of the bond required. The operator shall file such bond within five days after the giving of such notice, unless within such five days the operator shall request in writing a hearing before the Commissioner of Finance at which the necessity, propriety and amount of the bond shall be determined by the Commissioner of Finance. Such determination shall be final and shall be complied with within 15 days after the giving of notice thereof. In lieu of such bond, securities approved by the Commissioner of Finance, or cash in such amount as he may prescribe, may be deposited, and shall be kept in the custody of the Commissioner of Finance, who may at any time without notice to the depositor apply them to any tax and/or interest or penalties due, and for that purpose the securities may be sold by him at public or private sale without notice to the depositor thereof.
(b) As an alternative to filing a surety bond or depositing securities, the Commissioner of Finance may require or permit an operator required to collect the tax to deposit all taxes which become collectible in any banking institution located in the City, the deposits in which are insured by any agency of the federal government. Such deposits shall be made into and kept in a separate account, in trust and payable to the Commissioner of Finance, until payment over to the Commissioner of Finance. Such account shall remain open, and deposits made therein, until a notice of cancellation is given by the Commissioner of Finance.
Except in accordance with judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it is unlawful for the Commissioner of Finance or any officer or employee of the Department of Finance to divulge or make known in any manner any information relating to the business of a taxpayer contained in any return required under the law. The officers charged with the custody of such returns are not required to produce any of them or evidence of anything contained in them in any action or proceeding in any court, except on behalf of the Commissioner of Finance in an action or proceeding under the provisions of the law, or on behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under the provisions of the law when the returns or facts shown thereby are directly involved in such action or proceeding, in either of which events the court may require the production of and may admit in evidence so much of the returns or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more. A taxpayer may obtain a certified copy of any return filed in connection with his tax upon application in writing to the Commissioner. Where a representative of a taxpayer applies for a certified copy of such return, he must file a power of attorney with the application. A certified copy of a taxpayer's return or of information contained therein or relating thereto may be delivered to the United States of America or any department thereof, the State of New York or any department thereof, any agency or any department of the City of New York provided the same is requested for official business. The Corporation Counsel or other legal representatives of the City or the District Attorney of any county within the City may be permitted to inspect returns for official business. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular returns or items thereof.
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