The Rhode Island Department of Revenue today released its FY 2017 Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report for November 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.
Expansion of the Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Base The November 2016 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. For all municipalities other than the City of Newport the local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections from these rentals covers the period of July through September 2016 by month but not July through September 2015. No data on these rentals was provided for the months of October and November 2016. For the City of Newport, local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections from these rentals covers July through November 2015 by month and the months of October and November 2016. No data on these rentals was provided for July through September 2016.
It should be noted that due to timing and capacity constraints not all local 1.0 percent hotel tax returns filed in November for October 2016 were processed in the month. October 2016 returns filed by room resellers and hosting platforms for the rental of single rooms and realtors and homeowners for the rental of entire housing units are not reported in November 2016. As a result, the revenue from the rental of lodging reported in November 2016 is likely understated.
Highlights from the report as noted by Director of Revenue Robert S. Hull were • Local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections were down 34.7 percent between November and October 2016, slightly more than the 31.6 percent decrease experienced in FY 2016 between November and October 2015; o November 2016 cash collections include $4,555 in receipts attributable to the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $6,646 accounted for in October 2016; • Year-over-year increase in local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections for November 2016 was robust at 8.4 percent but 5.4 percentage points less than the year-over-year rate of growth posted in November 2015 of 13.8 percent; o Year-over Year local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections in November 2016 incorporate $4,555 of receipts generated from the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $1,686 recorded in November 2015. • FY 2017 year-to-date through November local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections were 13.8 percent greater than the same period in FY 2016, a gain of $293,950 and slightly ahead of the 12.9 percent growth experienced in FY 2016 year-to-date through November; o Year-to-date through November 2016 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections include $237,155 from the expansion of the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base to room resellers and hosting platforms and realtors and homeowners. For the same period through November 2015, the comparable figure is $13,154.
The entire report can be found on the Department of Revenue's web site at http://www.dor.ri.gov/revenue-analysis/2017.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.