(a) Each vendor shall keep complete and accurate records of lodging furnished, together with a record of the tax collected thereon, which shall be the amount due under this chapter, and shall keep all invoices and such other pertinent documents. If the vendor furnishes lodging not subject to the tax the vendor's records shall show the identity of the transient guest, if the sale was exempted by reason of such identity, or the nature of the transaction if exempted for any other reason. Such records and other documents shall be open during business hours to the inspection of the Director of Finance, and shall be preserved for a period of four years, unless the Director, in writing, consents to their destruction within that period, or by order requires that they be kept longer.
(b) Every vendor liable for the collection and payment to the City of any tax imposed by this chapter shall keep and preserve, for a period of three years, all records as may be necessary to determine the amount of such tax as he may have been liable for the collection of and payment to the City, which records the Director has the right be inspect at all reasonable times.
(c) 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 filing any false or fraudulent return, report or statement.
(d) If any vendor required to file monthly returns under this chapter fails on two consecutive months or on three or more months within a twelve-month period, to file such returns when due or to pay the tax thereon, or if any vendor authorized by the Director to file returns at less frequent intervals, fails on two or more occasions within a twenty-four month period, to file such returns, when due or to pay the tax due thereon, the Director may:
(1) Require the vendor to furnish security in an amount equal to the average tax liability of the vendor for a period of one year, as determined by the Director from a review of returns or other information pertaining to the vendor, which amount shall in no event be less than one hundred dollars ($100 00). 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 Director, conditioned upon payment of the tax due with the returns from the vendor. The security must be filed within ten days following the vendor's receipt of the notice from the Director of its requirements.
(2) A corporate surety bond filed under this section shall be returned to the vendor if, for a period of twelve consecutive months following the date the bond was filed, the vendor has filed all returns and remitted payment therewith within the time prescribed in this chapter.
(Ord. 1981-10. Passed 2-24-81.)