Providence, R.I. -- The Rhode Island Department of Revenue today released its FY 2018 Local 1.0 Percent Hotel Tax Collections Report for October 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 October 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 October 2017. For the City of Newport, local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections from these rentals covers only July through October 2017 and October 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 double digits between October and September 2017, declining at a rate of 13.1 percent, a marked improvement from the same period last fiscal year when the decline was 35.4 percent; o October 2017 cash collections include $107,912 in receipts attributable to the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $88,985 accounted for in September 2017; • Year-over-year local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections rose for October 2017, exploding at a 40.9 percent rate and significantly above the 0.8 percent rate recorded in October 2016. o Year-over-year FY 2018 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections include $107,912 of receipts generated from the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $6,646 recorded in October 2016; • Fiscal year-to-date over fiscal year-to-date increase in local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections for October 2017 accelerated to 18.6 percent, a 4.2 percentage point increase from the fiscal year-to-date-over-fiscal year-to-date growth rate posted in October 2016; o Year-to-date FY 2018 local 1.0 percent hotel tax collections through October incorporate $508,603 of receipts generated from the local 1.0 percent hotel tax base expansion vs. $232,600 recorded in FY 2017 through October.
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.