(a) Each operator shall, on or before the fifteenth day or each month, make a return to the Director of Finance, on forms provided by the Director of Finance, of the total rents charged and received and the amount of tax collected for transient occupancies during the preceding calendar month. All claims for exemption from the tax filed by transient guests with the operator during the reporting period shall be filed with the report. At the time that the return is filed, the full amount of the tax collected shall be remitted to the Director of Finance. The Director may require further information in the return if such 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 Director of Finance. All returns and payments submitted by each operator shall be treated as confidential by the Director 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.
(b) If any operator required to file monthly returns under this chapter fails, on two consecutive months or three or more months within a twelve month period, to file such returns when due or to pay the tax thereon, the Director of Finance may require such 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 Director of Finance from a review of past returns or other information pertaining to such operator, however, in no case shall the amount 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 of Finance, conditioned upon payment of the tax due with the returns from the vendor. The security shall be filed within ten days following the operator's receipt of the notice from the Director of Finance of its requirements.
(c) A corporate surety bond filed under this section shall be returned to the operator if, for a period of twelve consecutive months following the date the bond was filed, the operator has filed all returns and paid all taxes due with the time prescribed within this chapter. (Ord. 4507-19. Passed 7-23-19.)