[Added 11-13-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-06]
Effective January 1, 2008, there is hereby established a tax on the transient occupancy of hotels, motels, boardinghouses, travel campgrounds, and other facilities offering guest rooms rented out for continuous occupancy for fewer than 35 consecutive days. The tax shall be 5% of the amount of the charge for the occupancy of any such room or space. Each such establishment shall collect the tax on behalf of the Town of Mineral.
The owner of every establishment receiving any payment for transient occupancy on which a tax is levied under the preceding section shall collect and remit the same in accordance with the provisions of this article. All tax collections shall be deemed to be held in trust for the Town of Mineral.
It shall be the duty of every person or establishment required by this article to pay to the Town of Mineral the taxes imposed by this article to make a report thereof setting forth such information as the Treasurer may prescribe and require, including all purchases taxable under this article, the amount charged the purchaser for each such purchase, the date thereof, the taxes collected thereon and the amount of tax required to be collected by this article. Such records shall be kept and preserved for a period of five years. The Treasurer or his duly authorized agents shall have the power to examine such records, at reasonable times and without unreasonable interference with the business of such person, for the purpose of administering and enforcing the provisions of this article and to make transcripts of all or any parts thereof.
A. 
Any person willfully failing or refusing to file a return as required under this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, except that any person failing to file such a return shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor if the amount of tax lawfully assessed in connection with the return is $1,000 or less. Any person violating or failing to comply with any other provision of this article shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
B. 
Except as provided in Subsection A above, any corporate or partnership officer, as defined in Virginia Code § 58.1-3906, or any other person required to collect, account for, or pay over the tax imposed under this article who willfully fails to collect or truthfully account for or pay over such tax, or who willfully evades or attempts to evade such tax or payment thereof, shall, in addition to any other penalties imposed by law, be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
C. 
Each violation of or failure to comply with this article shall constitute a separate offense. Conviction of any such violation shall not relieve any person from the payment, collection or remittance of the tax as provided in this article.
No owner of a hotel, motel, boardinghouse, travel campground or other facility charged with collecting the transient occupancy tax shall advertise or hold out to the public in any manner, directly or indirectly, that all or any part of the tax imposed under this article will be paid or absorbed by such owner or anyone else, or that such owner or anyone else will relieve the purchaser of payment of all or any of the tax.
Whenever the owner of any hotel, motel, boardinghouse, travel campground or other facility charged with collecting the transient occupancy tax required to collect and remit and pay to the Town the tax imposed under this article shall cease to operate, go out of business, or otherwise dispose of his business, any tax payable under this article shall become immediately due and payable and such person shall immediately make a report to the Treasurer and pay the tax due to the Treasurer.
The owner of each hotel, motel, boardinghouse, travel campground or other facility charged with collecting the transient occupancy tax shall be entitled to a commission of no more that 3% of said taxes collected. Such owner shall be entitled to deduct the commission from the taxes remitted. No commission shall be allowed if the amount of tax due becomes delinquent.
It shall be the duty of the Town Treasurer to ascertain the name of every owner of each hotel, motel, boardinghouse, travel campground or other facility charged with collecting the transient occupancy tax liable for collection and remittance of the tax imposed by this article who fails, refuses, or neglects to collect such tax or to make the reports and remittances required by this article. The Town Treasurer shall have all the enforcement powers as authorized by Chapter 39 of Title 58.1 of the Code of Virginia for the purposes of this article. The Town Treasurer may have issued a summons for such person who fails, neglects or refuses to collect such tax imposed by this article, and the summons may be served upon such person by any Town police officer in the manner provided by law. One return of the original summons shall be made to the General District Court with jurisdiction over matters arising within the Town.
If any owner of a hotel, motel, boardinghouse, travel campground or other facility charged with collecting the transient occupancy tax, whose duty it is to do so, shall fail, neglect or refuse to collect the tax imposed under this article and/or to make, within the time provided in this article, the report and remittances mentioned in this article, the Treasurer shall proceed in such manner as he/she may deem best to obtain facts and information on which to base his/her estimate of the tax due. As soon as the Treasurer shall procure such facts and information as he/she is able to obtain upon which to base the assessment of any tax payable by any such owner who has failed, neglected or refused to collect such tax and to make such report and remittance, the Treasurer shall proceed to determine and assess against such owner the tax, penalties and interest provided for in this article and shall notify such owner by registered mail sent to such owner's last known place of address of the total amount of such tax, penalties and interest. The total amount thereof shall be payable within 10 days from the date such notice is mailed.
The Treasurer shall have the power and the duty of collecting the taxes imposed and levied hereunder and shall cause the same to be paid into the general treasury of the Town.
All reports and remittances required by this article shall be made on or before the 20th day of each month, covering the amount of tax collected during the preceding month. The Treasurer may require all prospective owners of any hotel, motel, boardinghouse, travel campground or other facility charged with collecting the transient occupancy taxes of food or meals subject to the provisions of this article and licensed to do business in the Town to register for the collection of the tax imposed by this article.
A. 
If any owner of a hotel, motel, boardinghouse, travel campground or other facility charged with collecting the transient occupancy tax, whose duty it is to do so, shall fail, neglect or refuse to file any report required by this article or to remit to the Treasurer the tax required to be collected and paid under this article within the time and in the amount specified in this article, there shall be added to such tax by the Treasurer a penalty in the amount of 10% of the total amount of the tax owed, or a minimum of $10, whichever is greater, provided that no penalty shall exceed the amount of the tax due. The Town Treasurer shall also assess interest upon the tax and penalty at the rate of 10% per annum from the date after the tax is due to the date of payment.
B. 
In the case of a fraudulent return with intent to defraud the Town of any tax due under this article, a penalty of 50% of the tax shall be assessed against the person required to collect such tax.