Providence, R.I -- The Rhode Island Department of Revenue today released its FY 2018 Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report for November 2017. The Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report, which is issued on a monthly basis, compares the collections from the state's local 1.0 percent hotel tax on a month-to-month, year-over-year, and fiscal year-to-date over fiscal year-to-date basis. The local 1.0 percent hotel tax is collected on the rental of rooms in the state and remitted, in full, to the municipality in which the room rental was located.
Expansion of the Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Base The November 2017 report includes the local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections generated by the rental of lodging via hosting platforms and by online travel companies (room resellers) and vacation home rentals by homeowners and realtors for all municipalities other than the City of Newport for the period of July through September 2016 and July through November 2017. For the City of Newport, local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections from these rentals covers July through November 2017 and October through November 2016 but not July through September 2016.
Highlights from the report as noted by Director of Revenue Mark A. Furcolo were • Local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections were down sharply between November and October 2017, declining at a rate of 47.4 percent, a deterioration from the same period last fiscal year when the decline was 34.7 percent; o November 2017 cash collections include $16,626 in receipts attributable to the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $107,912 accounted for in October 2017; • Year-over-year local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections rose for November 2017, jumping up at a 13.3-percent rate and nearly 500 basis points above the 8.4-percent growth rate recorded in November 2016. o Year-over-year FY 2018 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections include $16,626 of receipts generated from the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $4,556 recorded in November 2016; • Fiscal year-to-date over fiscal year-to-date increase in local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections for November 2017 were a very robust 18.1 percent, a 4.3 percentage point increase from the fiscal year-to-date-over-fiscal year-to-date growth rate posted in November 2016; o Year-to-date FY 2018 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections through November incorporate $525,229 of receipts generated from the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $237,155 recorded in FY 2017 through November.
The entire report can be found on the Department of Revenue's website at http://www.dor.ri.gov/revenue-analysis/2018.php under the Local Reports tab. The full report includes the break down by municipality of local hotel tax collections on a month-to-month, year-over-year, and fiscal year-to-date over fiscal year-to-date basis.
Questions or comments on the report should be directed to Paul Grimaldi, Chief of Information and Public Relations by e-mail at paul.grimaldi@revenue.ri.gov or by phone at (401) 574-8766.