Providence, R.I. -- The Rhode Island Department of Revenue today released its FY 2015 Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report for January 2016. 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.
The highlights from the January 2016 Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report as noted by Director of Revenue Robert S. Hull were: • Month-to-month decline in local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections were 5.0 percent, slightly more than the 4.4 percent decline recorded between January 2015 and December 2014; • Year-over-year decline in local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections for January 2016 was slight at -0.3 percent but in sharp contrast to the 3.4 percent increase recorded for January 2015 over January 2014; • Year-to-date FY 2016 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections through January was 10.9 percent more than the same period last fiscal year and ahead of the year-to-date over year-to-date growth rate recorded for FY 2015 through January.
The entire report can be found on the Department of Revenue's web site at http://www.dor.ri.gov/revenue-analysis/2016.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.
Expansion of the Local Hotel Tax Base to Vacation Rentals and Hosting Platforms: The January 2016 report may include FY 2016 local 1.0 percent hotel tax receipts generated from the expansion of the local hotel tax base to include the reselling of lodging by online travel companies, the unlicensed rental of accommodations via internet platforms and other media, and vacation home rentals. At this time, the Office of Revenue Analysis is unable to determine the amount collected from each of these local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansions and thus an unknown amount of receipts from these expansions may be included in this report.
Correction in Hotel Tax Collection Data for City of Newport: It should be noted that the Office of Revenue Analysis (ORA) made an error in the interpretation of the local 1.0 percent hotel tax revenues data provided by the City of Newport on hotel taxes paid by hotels located in Newport. Specifically, ORA used data reported by the City for a specific month as reflecting that month's hotel room rental activity when in fact that data reflected the prior month's hotel room rental activity. Beginning with the December 2015 Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report this error has been corrected. The previously issued Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Reports for July through November 2015 will also be corrected and republished as soon as feasibly possible.