Ruling 91-20

Room Occupancy Tax

This Ruling has been obsoleted by AN 94(8)

FACTS:

Hotel agrees to provide lodging for a period of more than thirty consecutive days.

ISSUE:

Where the period of occupancy of a hotel room is in excess of thirty consecutive days, does the room occupancy tax apply to the charge attributable to the initial thirty-day period?

DISCUSSION:

Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-407(2)(h) defines the terms "sale" and "selling" to include "a transfer for a consideration of the occupancy of any room or rooms in a hotel or lodging house for a period of thirty consecutive calendar days or less ...." Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-407(7)(a) contains a corresponding definition of the terms "purchase" and "purchasing".

Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-408(1) imposes the sales tax on all persons operating a hotel or lodging house at the rate of eight percent of the gross receipts "with respect to each transfer of occupancy, from the total amount of rent received for such occupancy of any room or rooms in a hotel or lodging house for the first period of not exceeding thirty consecutive calendar days ...." [emphasis added]

The reference to "the first period of not exceeding thirty consecutive calendar days" indicates that the room occupancy tax applies to the first thirty days of occupancy of a room in a hotel or lodging house without regard to the fact that the occupancy may exceed a period of thirty consecutive days.

RULING:

The charge attributable to the first thirty consecutive days of occupancy of any room or rooms in a hotel or lodging house is subject to the room occupancy tax irrespective of the total period of occupancy. The charge attributable to occupancy after the first thirty consecutive days is not subject to the room occupancy tax.

LEGAL DIVISION

May 24, 1991