(a) Every person receiving any payment upon which a tax is levied under this chapter shall collect the amount of the tax imposed from the person making the lodging payment. The tax required to be collected under this chapter shall be deemed to be held in trust by the person required to collect the same until paid to the Director of Finance as herein provided. Any person required to collect the tax imposed under this chapter who fails to collect the same, or having collected the same, fails to remit the same to the Director in the manner prescribed by this chapter, whether such failure is the result of his or her own act or the result of acts or conditions beyond his or her control, shall nevertheless be personally liable to the city for the amount of such tax, and shall, unless the remittance is made as herein required, be guilty of a violation of this chapter. The tax imposed hereunder shall be collected at the time the lodging charge is paid by the transient guest seeking lodging in a hotel and shall be reported and remitted by the person receiving the tax to the Director in monthly installments and remittances therefor on or before the thirtieth day of the month next succeeding the end of the monthly period in which the tax is collected or received. The person receiving any payment for lodgings from a transient guest shall make out a return upon such forms and setting forth such information as the Director may require, showing the amount of the tax upon lodgings for which he or she is liable for the preceding monthly period, and shall sign and transmit the same to the Director with a remittance for such amount. The Director may, in his or her discretion, require verified annual returns from any person receiving lodging payments setting forth such additional information as he or she may deem necessary to determine correctly the amount of tax collected and payable, and failure to comply with any requirement of the Director as to report and remittance of the tax as required shall be a violation of this chapter.
(b) The books, records and accounts of any person collecting the tax herein levied shall, as to lodging and tax collections, be at all reasonable times subject to examination and audit by the Director. If the tax imposed by this chapter is not paid when due, there shall be added, as a part of the tax, interest at the rate of 1% per month from the time when the tax became due until paid.
(Ord. 1975-128, passed 10-6-1975)