Providence, R.I. -- The Rhode Island Department of Revenue today released its FY 2018 Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report for December 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 December 2017 report includes the local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections generated by the rental of lodging via hosting platforms and by on-line 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 December 2017. For the City of Newport, local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections from these rentals covers July through December 2017 and October through December 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 December and November 2017, declining at a rate of 29.0 percent, a slight improvement from the same period last fiscal year when the decline was 31.5 percent; o December 2017 cash collections include $26,473 in receipts attributable to the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $16,626 accounted for in November 2017; • Year-over-year local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections rose for December 2017, rose strongly at a 17.5 percent rate and nearly double the 9.0 percent growth rate recorded in December 2016. o Year-over-year FY 2018 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections include $26,473 of receipts generated from the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $5,228 recorded in December 2016; • Fiscal year-to-date over fiscal year-to-date increase in local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections for December 2017 were a very robust 18.1 percent, a 6.5 percentage point increase from the fiscal year-to-date-over-fiscal year-to-date growth rate posted in December 2016; o Year-to-date FY 2018 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections through December incorporate $551,972 of receipts generated from the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $242,383 recorded in FY 2017 through December.
The entire report can be found on the Department of Revenue's web site 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.