[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.
