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J.The tax does apply to a receivable room charge including non-refundable deposits or guaranteed noshow revenue/fees, for which the vendor has a contractual right to collect, paid by on or behalf of anyperson, whether or not the person actually exercises the right to occupancy by using or possessing anyroom or rooms, or portion thereof, whether it be termed “cancellation fee” or “attrition” or “bad debt”or other term with similar meaning.K.The tax does apply to a receivable room charge termed or perceived as Comp or ComplimentaryLodging when a room is provided to a consumer by exchange/earned stay, the tax is applied pursuantto ORC 5739.01.L.The tax does apply to the room portion of transactions paid by Gift Certificates.Liabilities of Vendor and ConsumerA.The tax is imposed upon and shall be paid by the consumer to the vendor as trustee solely for thebenefit of Cuyahoga County, and each vendor as such trustee shall collect from the consumer the fulland exact amount of the tax payable on each taxable transaction in the manner and at the timesprovided as follows:1.If the price is, at or prior to the transaction, paid in cash, check, draft, or moneyorder by the consumer to the vendor, the vendor shall collect the tax with and atthe same time as the price.2.If the price is otherwise paid or to be paid, the vendor shall, at or prior to thefurnishing of lodgings, charge the tax to the account of the consumer, whichamount shall be collected by the vendor from the consumer in addition to theprice.B.Each such transaction shall be reported on, and the amount of the tax applicable thereto shall beremitted with the return for the calendar month in which the transaction occurs and the amount of thetax shall become a legal charge in favor of the vendor and against the consumer.C.To the extent the vendor fails to collect the tax, from the consumer upon each taxable transaction, orhaving collected the tax, fails to return and remit the same when due, the tax is hereby imposed andlevied upon the vendor. This paragraph does not affect any duty of a vendor nor the liability of anyconsumer to pay the tax, both as imposed upon each hereunder; but any payment of tax by the vendoror the consumer reduces the liability of the other to the County to the extent of the payment.D.Within thirty (30) days after commencing business or changing business name, management companyor ownership, each operator of any hotel or motel renting lodging to transient guests shall complete aregistration form (Exhibit C) for said hotel or motel with the Fiscal Officer by means of purchasing an6

Ohio Retail Sales Tax Vendor License and obtaining from the Fiscal Officer a “Transient OccupancyRegistration Certificate” to be at all times posted in a conspicuous place on the premises. Saidcertificate shall among other things, state the following:1.The name of the operator;2.The address of the hotel;3.The date upon which the certificate was issued;“This Transient Occupancy Registration Certificate (Exhibit D) signifies that the person named onthe face hereof has fulfilled the requirements of the Cuyahoga County Lodging Excise Tax Code ofRegulations by registering with the Fiscal Officer for the purpose of collecting from transient gueststhe Lodging Excise Tax and remitting said tax to the Fiscal Officer. This Certificate does notconstitute a permit.Returns; Due Date; Remission of Penalties; Procedure Thereon; Failure to File; FormstA.Each vendor shall, on or before the 21 day of each month (no exceptions for holidays or weekends),complete and file a full return with the Fiscal Officer for the preceding calendar month on the formsprescribed, showing all the information required thereon, including the amount of tax due the Countyfrom the Vendor, (Exhibit E) and report all exempt transactions on the “Lodging Tax ExemptionReport” (Exhibit B).B.The monthly returns shall be submitted to the Fiscal Officer with payment of the amount of tax duethereon. Any and all taxes collected and not refunded to the consumer shall be remitted to the FiscalOfficer.C.Upon receiving the monthly returns with the proper payment, the Fiscal Officer shall promptly stampor otherwise mark on all copies the date received and the amount of payment received.D.Upon application of the vendor, in writing and for good cause shown, the Fiscal Officer may extendthe time for making and filing returns. Also, the Fiscal Officer may reduce or abate any and all interestand penalties that may be due hereunder.E.Any vendor who fails to file a complete return and exempt report, with payment, postmarked on orstbefore the 21 day of each month (no exceptions for holidays or weekends), shall forfeit and pay intothe County Treasurer interest at the rate at which interest accrues per annum as prescribed pursuant toORC 5703.47 and a penalty up to twenty-five percent (25%) of the amount of the tax due and suchmay be collected by assessment in the manner provided herein.7

F.The forms for the return shall be prescribed by the Fiscal Officer. Submission of any forms other thanwhat is prescribed by the Fiscal Officer will result in the automatic rejection of exempted status for thetransaction. The exemption report is to be completed in its entirety. If the fully completed andexecuted forms are not obtained from the vendor and made available for audit, the excise tax shallapply and the vendor will be held responsible for the payment of same.Amended ReturnsAmended Returns: Whenever the amount of any tax, interest and penalty has been overpaid or paid more thanonce or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the County under this Resolution, it may berefunded after providing a claim in writing therefore, stating under penalty of perjury the specific grounds uponwhich the claim is founded. The claim shall be on forms furnished by the Fiscal Officer and review of such claimsshall be at the sole discretion of the Fiscal Officer.No refund shall be paid under the provisions of this section unless the claimant establishes his right thereto bywritten records showing entitlement thereof within four (4) years of the date of payment. This section is not asubstitute for a petition for reassessment or any appeal following an assessment.Assessments; Liabilities of Vendor and ConsumerIf any vendor collects the tax and fails to remit the same to the County as provided herein, said vendor shall bepersonally liable for any amount collected, which was not remitted. If any vendor fails to collect the tax on anytransaction subject thereto, such vendor shall be personally liable for the same. The Fiscal Officer may make anassessment against the vendor in the first case, or the vendor in the second case, as the facts may require, based uponany information in the Fiscal Officer’s possession.No assessment against a vendor shall discharge the consumer’s liability to the vendor for any unpaid tax, if theconsumer owes the tax.No assessment issued against either the vendor or the consumer shall be considered an election of remedies or a barto an assessment against the other for the tax, penalty, and interest applicable to the same transaction, provided,however, that no assessment shall be issued against any person for the tax due on a particular transaction if the taxhas been paid by another.8

Maintenance and Inspection of Records; Assessments; DelinquenciesA.The burden of proof rests upon each vendor to show what part, if any, of the gross room revenuereceipts are not taxable from the hotel room rents; and for such purpose each vendor shall maintain andkeep complete and accurate records of said room revenue together with a record of the tax collectedthereon, which shall include:1.Primary records such as all guest or rent registers, rent invoices, statements orbills, rent payments and/or refunds thereon; room rate sheets or cards of dailyprices for each room, as required by ORC 3731.16; receipts of taxes collected;copies of appropriate schedules of Federal Income Tax Returns, Ohio Sales TaxReturns, and tax returns to local municipalities having a lodging excise taxidentical or substantially similar to the tax imposed hereby; exemptioncertificates, tax payment receipts; cash register tapes and all other pertinentdocuments; and2.Secondary records such as bank deposit receipts and daily books, journals, orany other records in which the vendor accumulates data, which must besupported by complete detail in which such data was accumulated.B.Guest or rent invoices, statements or bills, and cash register tapes for taxable rent must state separatelythe total taxable rent and the tax charged and/or collected. The records must also show clearly thelength of stay, in terms of consecutive days for each guest.C.All room adjustments or complimentary/earned stays must have detailed supporting documentationmaintained. The records must show clearly the original rent and tax, the value of the room rent and taxadjusted, length of stay, in terms of consecutive days for each guest and the reason for suchadjustment.D.All records relating to the collection and payment of the tax must be preserved by the vendor for five(5) years, unless the Fiscal Officer consents in writing to their destruction within that period, or byorder requires that they be kept for a longer period. All such records no longer need to be preservedafter an assessment for additional tax has been made and paid, including all penalties and interesttherein, for the period involved in such assessment. A copy of such paid assessment shall bemaintained for five (5) years following the period included in such assessment.E.All such records and documents shall be open to the County Fiscal Officer for inspection duringregular business hours. The Fiscal Officer shall from time to time, review, investigate, examine andaudit any and all such records to determine if the proper tax has been returned and remitted. The FiscalOfficer also has the authority to remove such records as long as proper inventory of the documentationto be removed is provided to the vendor.9

F.1.The Fiscal Officer may interview the vendor or his/her employees and agents,and may take written statements whether or not under oath.2.If the Fiscal Officer’s investigation of such records reveals that any tax oradditional tax should properly have been returned and remitted by the Vendor,the Fiscal Officer shall make an assessment of such tax or additional tax in themanner provided in paragraph F hereof.If any vendor fails to maintain complete primary sales records, accurately reflecting the total rentssubject to the tax and of the tax due thereon, or which may be utilized in verifying the accuracy of thefigures reflected in the vendor’s secondary record and/or reported on the vendor’s tax returns filedhereunder, the Fiscal Officer will use one of the following methods for such verification:1.Determine the total amount of all rents, less rental refunds, when the full tax hasalso been refunded either in cash or by credit, as the facts may require, basedupon any information in his possession.2.Determine taxable and non-taxable rents, or the ratio of taxable rents to totalrents, or both, as the facts may require, based upon any information in hispossession.The above described determinations may be based upon a sampling or test checks of the vendor’sbusiness activity for a representative period, or other information relating to the rental of rooms madeby such vendor.(Sampling and test checks will not be utilized to approve claimed exemptions.)TheFiscal Officer may make the same determination where the facts in the Fiscal Officer’s possessionreasonably lead the Fiscal Officer to believe that the amount of tax required to be collected is or shouldbe greater than the amount remitted by the vendor.G.If any vendor:1.Fails to maintain complete records, as required hereby; or2.Fails or refuses to permit the Fiscal Officer to inspect any records; or3.Refuses to permit the Fiscal Officer to sample or test check his business activity;or4.Having filed a return or returns, misrepresents or fails to disclose, any materialfact or figure thereon; or5.Having collected the tax, fails to remit the same when due; or6.Fails to remit the correct amount of tax or interest thereon when due; or7.Fails to file a full and complete return when due:The Fiscal Officer shall determine the proper amount of tax by any of the means set forth above; thetax as so determined will be deemed to be the tax collected by such vendor during the entire period of10

time under review; and the Fiscal Officer shall make an assessment of such amount of tax based uponsuch determination, less the tax paid during such period, if any, (a) plus interest thereon at the ratewhich interest accrues per annum, as prescribed pursuant to ORC 5703.47, computed from the timethe amounts of tax assessed should have been paid; (b) plus a penalty of up to twenty-five percent(25%) of the amount of the assessment of tax.H.No assessment, however, shall be made or issued against a vendor or consumer for any tax more thanfour (4) years after the return day for the period in which the taxable transaction giving rise to theassessment of the tax occurred, or after the return for said period was filed, whichever is later. Thefour-year period begins on the day when the vendor is notified of the onset of an audit.I.All returns, documents, and payments submitted by each vendor, all records and other documentsexamined, and all information or knowledge of any vendor’s business obtained by the Fiscal Officershall be treated as confidential by the Fiscal Officer and shall not be released except upon order of acourt of competent jurisdiction or to a duly authorized officer or agent of the Federal government, theState of Ohio, or any municipal corporation or township in the County of Cuyahoga which levies a taxpursuant to ORC 5739.024(B)/5739.09.Procedure Following AssessmentA.Each assessment shall be in writing stating clearly the reasons and basis therefor.B.In each case of an assessment, the Fiscal Officer shall give to the assesse written notice thereof to beserved personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested, along with a copy of the writtenassessment.C.The assessment shall become final thirty (30) days after service thereof upon the assesse, unless, theassesse, within thirty (30) days of service of notice of assessment, files with the Fiscal Officer a“Petition for Reassessment” providing written objection to the assessment, together with reasons forsuch objection and documentation therefore. Filing of a “Petition for Reassessment” shall stayenforcement by the Fiscal Officer. The Fiscal Officer shall consider the “Petition for Reassessmentand provide a determination to the assesse as to the result of such consideration, along with a finalassessment.Thirty (30) days after notice of assessment, or upon notice of the determination of the “Petition forReassessment” by the Fiscal Officer, whichever is later, the assessment shall become final and theamount thereof shall be deemed a debt due and payable to the County. The Fiscal Officer shall causeto be filed a judgment lien in the amount of the assessment, including penalties and interest addedthereto under the provisions hereof.D.All monies collected upon assessments including penalties and interest thereon shall, when received bythe County, be considered as revenue arising from the tax.11

Liability of Officers and AgentsIf any person required to file returns and to remit the tax, fails for any reason to make such filing or payment,vendor’s officers, partners or managing agents, or employees having control or supervision of, or charged with theresponsibility of, filing returns and making payments of tax, shall be personally liable for such failure. Thedissolution of such entity shall not discharge its liability for a failure to file returns or remit tax due prior to suchdissolution.No vendor shall fail to collect the full and exact tax as required by these regulations. No vendor shall remit or rebateto a transient guest, either directly or indirectly, any of the tax levied pursuant to these regulations, or make in anyform of advertising, verbal or otherwise, any statements which might imply that he is absorbing the tax, or payingthe tax for the transient guest by an adjustment of prices, or furnishing lodging at the price including the tax orrebating the tax in any other manner.Any person(s) owing such a debt to the County under the provisions of this Code which debt has become delinquentshall be liable to any action brought in the name of the County of Cuyahoga, by and through the Cuyahoga CountyProsecutor or other attorney authorized by law for the recovery of such amount.Sale of Entire BusinessIf a vendor, liable for the tax sells the business or quits the business, the taxes, interest, and penalties imposedhereby on taxable rents made prior to that time shall become due and payable immediately, and such person shallmake a Final Return, on the form attached hereto as Exhibit F, within fifteen (15) days after the date of selling orquitting business. The successor to the business shall withhold a sufficient amount of the purchase money to coverthe amount of such taxes, interest, and penalties due and unpaid until the former owner produces a receipt from theFiscal Officer showing that the taxes, interest, and penalties have been paid, or a certificate (available upon request)indicating that no taxes are due. If the purchaser of the business fails to withhold purchase money, the purchasershall be personally liable for the payment of the taxes, interest, and penalties accrued and unpaid during theoperation of the business by the former owner. Irrespective if there was purchase money, the successor shall bepersonally liable for the tax, interest and penalties accrued and unpaid during the operation of the business by theformer owner.12

ExamplesThe following examples are published to illustrate the hypothetical application of the tax in the particular situations:A.If a person engages or reserves and pays for hotel room(s) for thirty (30) or more consecutive days, onbehalf of specified guest(s), the tax does not apply, irrespective of whether the room is actuallyoccupied each day during that period.B.If, in example A, the Room(s) is vacated and a refund is made, or the guest pays for fewer than thirty(30) days, the tax will be imposed.C.If a person engages or reserves hotel room(s) for fewer than thirty (30) days, on behalf of specifiedguest(s), and, either during or at the end of the engagement or reservation period, extends theengagement, whether for the same or different room(s), to an aggregate of thirty (30) or moreconsecutive days of occupancy or the right to occupancy, the tax does not apply.D.If a person engages or reserves hotel room(s) for more than thirty (30) consecutive days on behalf ofguest(s) who do not, in fact, have the unqualified right to occupy the room(s) for thirty (30) or moreconsecutive days, and does not pay thirty (30) or more consecutive days’ rent, the tax applies.E.If a guest occupies a suite or two (2) or more connecting rooms, the tax applies to the suite or all of theconnecting rooms, unless each connecting room or separate room comprising the suite is assigned aseparate, regular rate for lodging, and is rented for separate lodging, in which case the tax applies onlyto the rent for the rooms occupied separately for lodging, and not to those occupied for other purposes.For example, if a consumer rents two (2) connecting rooms and one has sleeping accommodations inone while the consumer conducts business exclusively in the other, the tax will be applied only on theroom with sleeping accommodations.F.If lodging is provided without any compensation (for example: trade-in-service or barter), and with nocompensating charge (rate 0.00), the tax does not apply to such complimentary lodging.G.If lodgings are rented one (1) or more times in any twenty-four hour period to different guest(s) orconsumer(s), the tax applies to each rental.H.Vouchers contained in voucher books, thrift books, and coupon books, which entitle the purchaser ofthe books to trade at different retail establishments shall be treated as money when applied to pay forlodging and the tax shall attach to all rents paid by the use of such vouchers, using as a tax basis themoney value of the coupon or voucher.13

IntentIt is the intent of these rules and regulations to provide for the administration of imposing, coll

code of regulations . cuyahoga county -lodging bed tax division -2079 east ninth street, 3. rd . floor cleveland, ohio 44115 telephone (216) 443-7140