Legislative & Regulatory Issues

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Sales & Withholding Tax Updates

December 15, 2011 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues | No comments

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue has posted several updates, reports and publication revisions to its website, with two in particular relevant to the lodging industry, including:

“Tax Release: ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ and Similar Promotions,” which revises an article of the same name, reflecting a law change that went into effect on September 1, 2011.

“Golf Courses – How Do Wisconsin Sales & Use Taxes Affect Your Operations,” also known as “Publication 226″ has been revised.

Additional resources available at the Department of Revenue’s website include the December 2011 “Withholding Tax Update,” with articles like “Current Withholding Rates to Apply for 2012,” “Recent Legislation – Health Care Benefits for Adult Children under 27,” “Federal Wage Statements and Information Returns,” and more.

The above links are password protected for lodging members only. If you need help logging in, email Michelle in the WH&LA office or call 262/782-2851.

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Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Decision for Online Travel Companies in Occupancy Tax Dispute

October 28, 2011 in Industry Update, Legislative & Regulatory Issues | No comments

From HotelOnline:

Court finds that Online Travel Companies (OTCs) ‘help consumers make informed choices in spending their travel dollars, and to do so conveniently and efficiently.’

The Texas 14th Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed that online travel companies (OTCs) pay all of the taxes that they are legally required to, and that the City of Houston and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority cannot impose taxes on them for their reservation services. This decision follows the clear national trend, where state and federal courts have rebuffed efforts by state and local governments to attempt to impose taxes on online travel companies for their services.

The court went on to point out that an OTC, “does not have rooms or occupancy… the OTCs do not have the right to use or possess hotel rooms. Instead, the OTCs have websites and provide information.” The court noted that, “the OTC does not purchase the right to use the room and then resell that right to a consumer, and does not promise that any reservations will be made.” OTCs simply allow their customer to place a reservation with the hotel through the OTCs’ websites.

The court also correctly applied long-standing rules of statutory construction in interpreting a tax statute: if the taxpayer’s interpretation of the words of the statute is reasonable, the taxpayer prevails and any ambiguity must be resolved in favor of the taxpayer. Here the court held that the OTCs’ argument that their compensation was not part of the “cost of occupancy” was reasonable, and that “the provisions at issue reasonably can be construed to tax only the amounts paid to hotels,” so it ruled in favor of the OTCs.

Read the article in its entirety from HotelOnline here.

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WH&LA Capitol Insider: New Federal Per Diem Rates Released

August 30, 2011 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues | No comments

Last week the Federal General Services Administration (GSA) released the new Federal Per Diem Rates for Lodging and Meals & Incidentals (M & I) that will go into effect Oct. 1, 2011 and expire Sept. 30, 2012. While the “CONUS” rate, for all communities & counties not specifically listed, stayed the same, there were numerous changes for those listed.

Full text of this Capitol Insider can be found here by clicking the August 25, 2011 link. This link is password protected for lodging members only. Contact Michelle in the WH&LA office or call 262/782-2851 if you need help logging in.

 

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Small Business Tax Credit for ADA Alterations

August 23, 2011 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues | No comments

To assist businesses with complying with the new ADA regulations such as those impacting the lodging industry, Section 44 of the IRS Code allows a tax credit for certain small businesses.

More information about the tax credit can be found here. (This information is password protected for lodging members only. E-mail Michelle in the WH&LA office or call 262/782-2851 if you need help logging in.)

 

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New Room Tax Info Hot Off the Press!

February 3, 2011 in Industry Update, Legislative & Regulatory Issues | 1 comment

The state Legislative Fiscal Bureau just finished its two-year publication, “Local Government Revenue Options – January 2011”, which outlines the types of taxes local governments can impose, including Room Tax (see pages 5-8 plus an Appendix on pages 15-17). This has been updated every two years since about 2001. The publication can be downloaded here.

While the Appendix does list room tax rates alpha by county, then alpha by municipality, it only includes the rates in effect Jan. 1, 2010, in municipalities that already had a room tax before. Thus it does not reflect the municipalities imposing a room tax for the first time, which is why the list created in February 2010 by the WH&LA (included for lodging members only available here) includes the rates of 13 additional municipalities.

The new state publication does show total reported room tax collections for each municipality, as well as the total reported state-wide. It shows that total collections peaked at $63.72 million in 2008, but dropped down to $55.83 million in 2009. The total municipalities with room tax that they tracked went down slightly from 258 in 2008 to 257 in 2009, but again this does not reflect total counts including first time room tax areas.

This publication also includes sections on:

  • Local Exposition District Taxes
  • Local Professional Baseball Park District Taxes
  • Local Professional Football Stadium District Taxes
  • Premier Resort Area Tax
  • Regional Transit Authorities
  • County Sales & Use Taxes (including a chart on the 61 counties imposing the 0.5% county sales tax)
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Capitol Insider: Room Tax Payments Advisory

February 1, 2011 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues, Legislative Advisory | No comments

The WH&LA has learned that more than a few properties in different parts of the state have not submitted their Room Tax collections to their municipality within a reasonable timeline. While significant cash flow challenges appear to be the cause in most if not all of the cases, it may be helpful to consider several key points before resorting to withholding payment.

The full text with links of the Capitol Insider e-mail is available here by clicking on the January 21, 2011 link. Please note that Capitol Insider e-mails are for WH&LA lodging members only and you will need your user ID and password to access the above link. Need help logging in? Contact Michelle in the WH&LA office via e-mail or call 262/782-2851.

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‘Buy One, Get One Free’ promotions (from WI Dept. of Revenue)

January 5, 2011 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues | 1 comment

Effective October 1, 2009, Wisconsin sales and use tax law was changed to impose tax on a retailer’s purchases of items that it provides free of charge to its customers with the required purchase of another item.

This article from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue provides examples to illustrate how Wisconsin sales and use taxes apply to various promotions.

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New Federal Per Diem Rates Announced

August 31, 2010 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues | No comments


Today, the federal General Services Administration (GSA) released the Federal Per Diem Rates for federal employees traveling on business, effective October 1, 2010 until September 30, 2011.It is important to note that the GSA determines their rates based on STR data on rates.  This emphasizes the importance of Wisconsin properties responding to Smith Travel Research (STR) surveys to ensure the rates set for each area are as accurate as possible.

The full text of the Capitol Insider e-mail, with a chart of federal per diem rates for Wisconsin and notable rate changes can be found here by clicking the 8/30/10 link.

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New Room Tax Tool from WH&LA

August 31, 2010 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues | No comments

The Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association (WH&LA) Room Tax Task Force has developed a new tool to help determine if local Room Tax is compliant with state statutes. The WH&LA Wisconsin Room Tax Self-Audit Tool will help you make sure your local tourism industry is receiving appropriate funding for tourism promotion and development from the tax.

This five-page tool is designed to guide lodging and other tourism businesses, CVBs, chambers of commerce and municipalities through an analysis of the room tax authorized in individual municipalities.

The Room Tax Self-Audit Tool can be found here, by clicking the 8/31/10 link. (This page is password protected for WH&LA Lodging Members only. If you need assistance with logging in, e-mail Michelle or call 262/782-2851.)

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More Smoking Ban Info

June 25, 2010 in Legislative & Regulatory Issues, Legislative Advisory | No comments

In addition to WH&LA’s Smoking Ban Guide for Lodging Properties sent to members a few weeks ago, there are new resources and interpretations now available from the state.

Latest State-Provided Resources
Each of the following resources can be viewed and/or downloaded from WH&LA’s Smoking Ban Resource page.

1. A new six-page “Wisconsin Legislative Council Information Memorandum – Smoking Ban” was written earlier this month and released this week. While it is not specific to lodging properties, it does reinforce and address a number of the components in the WH&LAs Guide.

2. “Clarification of the role of the Department of Commerce,” which is limited to rules on specifications for “No Smoking Signs,” is now posted at their Web site.

3. The Department of Health Services (DHS) was directed to provide information on smoke-free efforts, including resources encouraging employees and others to cease smoking in general. The following are the materials they are distributing in collaboration with Smoke-Free Wisconsin and other public health organizations:
-DHS Secretary’s letter
-flyers about the ban for employees
-strategies for employers to help employees wishing to quit smoking
-flyer advising customers about the statewide ban.

4. Basic no smoking symbol signage. This signage is without the enhanced language on WH&LA’s signage that includes actions that may be taken by the lodging property, like assessing fees for cleaning rooms where smoking has taken place.

WH&LA Resources
The following WH&LA resources on the Smoking Ban were previously released to lodging members and continue to be available for download from WH&LA’s Smoking Ban Resource page.

1. WH&LA Smoking Ban Guide for Lodging Properties, for properties that currently provide smoking sleeping rooms of any quantity

2. WH&LA Smoking Ban Guide for Smoke-Free Lodging Properties, with special information for properties that are already smoke-free

3. WH&LA Suggested Signage, available in full-page, half-page and quarter-page sizes

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