2.12.020 OPERATOR'S COLLECTION DUTIES.
.010 Each operator shall collect the tax to the sa me extent and at the same time as the rent is
collected from every transient.
.011 The amount of the rent and the tax thereon shall be separately stated from all other amounts on all receipts and books of record of the hotel, and eac h transient shall be tendered a receipt for payment from the operator with rent and tax separately stated thereon. No operator shall advertise or state in any manner, directly or indirectly, that t he tax or any part thereof will be assumed or absorbed by the operator or that the tax will not be added to the rent or that, if added, any part of the tax will be refunded except in the manner hereinafter provided. Notwithstanding the foregoing provision of this subsection, nothing contained herein shall require the operator to separately state the rent and the tax thereon on receipts and books of record or prohibit the operator from advertising or stating that the tax will be assumed or absorbed by the operator or that such tax will not be added to the rent, provided such room accommodations constitute a portion of a collective group of services, privileges, entitlement or benefits (hereinafter "benefits") which benefits include, at a minimum, room accommodations and food and bev erage services or room accommodations and at least one other benefit having an a scertainable fair market value (hereinafter "special package") offered for one fixed cha rge (hereinafter "special package rate"). Further, as of July 15, 2020, but only in those circumstances where the operator has set and required a floor room rate that must be charged by a third party to a transient, an operator shall only collect rent from a transient, and at the same t ime shall collect the tax on the full amount charged by the operator, through Direct Payment from th e transient to the operator.
Notwithstanding the July 15, 2020 date for the mandatory comme ncement of the Direct Payment of rent and tax from the transient to the operator unde r the circumstances where the operator has set and required a floor room rate that must be charged by a third party to a transient, if the terms of a lawful and fully executed contract that was entered into and in effect between an operator and a third party prior to May 12, 2020 would be impaired by the D irect Payment requirement of this subsection, the Direct Payment provision shall not a pply to collection of rent under that contract until the earlier of: (1) its renewal, amendment, or extension; or (2) July 15, 2021. On or before July 15, 2020, any operator claiming such an impairment of co ntract shall file with the License Collector a statement of impairment under penalty of perjury. The burden shall be on the operator to prove and document its claim of impairment to the reasonable satisfaction of the City in the operator's filed statement, through provision of the relevant contract, the entry and end dates of the contract, and an explanation of how the City's Direct Payment requirement impairs the contract.
.01
21 Unless otherwise provided in an agreement between Anaheim a nd an operator in accordance with subsection .015, i n the event an operator does notfails to separately state the rent and tax from other amounts on all receipts and books of record, the operator shall file with the License Collector a statement of each special package rate on a form (hereinafter "Special Package Form") provided by the License Collector. The Special P ackage Form shall include the special package rate, and an itemization of the values of the items included, including, at a minimum, the rent, tax, and any other item. The operator must submit documentation to substantiate the claimed fair market value of individual items included other than rent and tax. The License Collector shall mark the date of receipt on the Special Package Form an d review the submitted information to determine if sufficient information is provided to verif y that the numbers are mathematically correct and compl yies with this chapter. If the package meets the foregoing r equirements, the License Collector shall assign a unique number to the Special Package Form and return a copy to the operator within fourteen City business days of receip t. The operator may use the assigned unique number or may assign the operator's unique name/num ber to each package and notify the License Collector to imprint the name/number on the Special Package Form. This unique name/number must appear on all receipts and books of record whenever the package is sold. If the package does notfails to meet the requirements of this sSubsection, the License Collector will advise the operator of any required changes within fourteen City business days. The operator must either make the required changes and resubmit the Specia l Package Form or comply with subsection 2.12.020.01 10. A new Special Package form must be submitted in the event of any change in the special package rate or the specified rate (subsection 2.12.020.01 43), or other items in the special package which exceeds ten percent and for any new special package(s) offered/used.
Any change of items within the special package constitutes a new special package. The effective date of the special package rate shall be the date of receipt by the License Collector if the package is approved.
.01
32 No Special Package Form shall be accepted for filing unless accompanied by a filing fee in the amount established by resolution of the City Council.
.01
43 As to any package sold by the operator for which the License Collector has approved the package and assigned the unique number, the tax shall apply only to the amount of rent identified in the Special Package Form (hereinafter "specified rate") until such time as the License Collector shall inform the operator that the approval is revoked.
.015 If an operator sells special packages and frequently changes the package pricing or package components in a manner that would create an undue burden o n the operator to comply with subsection 2.12.020.012, the operator and Anaheim may enter i nto a written agreement establishing a reporting methodology that is an alterna tive to compliance with that subsection, provided the reporting methodology clearly identifies the taxable rent portion of the special package, including any discount room charge or facilitation fee (“reported rent”).
.01
64 In the event an operator does notfails to comply with subsection 2.12.020.01 10, and does notalso fails to either file a Special Package Form and obtain approval of a specified rate pursuant to subsection 2.12.020.01 1 2, or enter into a written agreement pursuant to subse ction
2.12.020.015 , the portion of the special package rate attributable to the room accommodations for purposes of determining the tax (hereinafter "imputed rat e") shall be deemed the lesser of (a) the amount collected for the total special package or (b) an amount equal to the median average double occupancy room rate for such accommodations as posted i n such room pursuant to the requirements of Section 1863 of the Civil Code (or any succes sor section). The burden to prove such posted room rates shall be upon the operator. In the event the operator fails to present satisfactory proof of such rates, such posted rates shall be deemed the posted rates in effect at the time of the audit.
.01
75 Notwithstanding subsections 2.12.020.01 21 and 2.12.020.01 43, if any audit reveals that the rent component of a special package gross income to th e operator attributable to the accommodations portion of such special package (hereinafter "audited rate") is more than ten percent greater than the specified rate or the reported rent , the rent for tax purposes shall be the audited rate , and any facilitation fee will be calculated by subtr acting the discount room charge from the audited rate . In the event subsection 2.12.020.01 64 applies and the audited rate is greater than the imputed rate, the rent for tax purposes shall be the audited rate , and any facilitation fee will be calculated by subtracting the discount room charge from the audited rate . The audited rate shall be determined by an audit of a sample of the special packages sold by the operator within an individual special package category. The audited rate shall be the amount of the special package rate remaining after deducting the fair market value of each of the benefits included in the special package rate other than room accommodations and room tax. Where more than one type of special package was offered within the audit period, each special package shall be audited separately for purposes of determining the applicable audited rate. Credits or offsets shall not be allowed between different special packages.
.020 Any amount charged and collected by the operator f rom any transient beyond the period for which the tax is imposed, which amount is in excess of the rent theretofore charged the transient for the same accommodations and upon which rent tax was imposed and collected, shall be conclusively deemed collected under the representation by the operator that such excess amount was tax. If the operator gives such person written not ice prior to the accrual of the obligation therefor that such excess amount constitutes an increase in the rental rate this subsection shall not apply. The burden to prove such notice shall be
up on the operator.
.030 Whenever an operator who has collected any sum un der the representation that it was tax (which sum was not required to be collected as tax) remit s said sum to Anaheim and thereafter refunds such sum in whole or part, such operator may take the amount of such refund as a credit against future transient taxes only upon submitting to the License Collector a statement under penalty of perjury specifying the reasons for the credit and proof of payment of such refund.
.040 Nothing contained in this chapter shall require th e refund by Anaheim to any person of such sum collected by the operator and remitted to Anah eim even where such sum was not otherwise required to be collected and remitted.
.050 Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed to authorize as a credit against tax any amount paid by the operator to any tour promoter, travel agent, or third party other than the transient. Travel agent commissions are an expense of the operator and may not be deducted from the rent.
2.12.025 RULES AND REGULATIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS.
The License Collector may promulgate rules and regulat ions consistent with the provisions of this chapter as may be necessary or desirable to aid in the enforcement and administration of this chapter. However, Aany such rule or regulation which would increase the maximum rate of any tax levied pursuant to this chapter is subject to voter appro val as required by California Constitution Article XIIIC (Proposition 218) may affec t the amount of the Tax or tax owed Anaheim shall be subject to approval of the City Council . Said rules and regulations shall be filed in the Office of the License Collector and maintained in an orderly and readily accessible manner.
The burden to secure and comply with the rules and regulations shall be upon the operator.
2.12.030 REPORTING AND REMITTING.
.010 Each operator shall, on or before the close of City business on the last City business day of each month (hereinafter "due date"), file a return with the License Collector on forms provided by the License Collector stating the total rents charged and the amount of tax collected during the immediately preceding calendar month. The full amount of the tax (minus any authorized credits) shall be remitted to the License Collector.
.0101. If rent is collected from a transient by an accommodations intermediary, the operator obligated to remit the tax on such rent to the License Collector is as follows:
i. When the accommodations are in a hotel that is considered a short-term rental, the accommodations intermediary shall remit the tax on the rent to the License Collector.
ii. When the accommodations are in a hotel that is not co nsidered a short-term rental, the accommodations intermediary shall remit th e tax on the facilitation fee (if any) and the tax on any additional rent it coll ects from the transient (excluding the tax on the discount room charge) to the Li cense Collector, and shall remit the tax on the discount room charge to the accommodations supplier, which shall then remit the tax on the discount room cha rge to the License Collector.
iii. The accommodations supplier shall not be responsible for any tax the accommodations intermediary is required to remit to the License Collector, and the accommodations intermediary shall not be responsible for any tax remitted to the accommodations supplier which the accommodations supplier does not then remit to the License Collector.
iv. Nothing contained herein relieves an accommodations supplie r of the responsibility to remit to the License Collector tax on rent the accommodations supplier collects from the transient, and the accommo dations supplier shall remit the tax on such rent to the License Collector.
.0102. If the terms of a lawful and fully executed contract that was entered into and in effect between an accommodations supplier and an accommodations intermediary prior to December 15, 2022 would be impaired by the remittance requir ements of subsection
2.12.030.010.0101, these requirements shall not apply to the remit tance of rent governed by that contract until the earlier of: (1) its renewal, amendment, or extension; or (2) January 1, 2024; provided however that the tax on the rent is nonethel ess required to be remitted in full to the License Collector by either the accommodations supplier and/or the accommodations intermediary. On or before March 1, 2023, any operator c laiming such an impairment of contract shall file with the License Collector a sta tement of impairment under penalty of perjury. The burden shall be on the operator to prove a nd document its claim of impairment to the reasonable satisfaction of the City in the op erator's filed statement, through provision of the relevant contract, the entry and end dates of the contract, and an explanation of how the City's requirement impairs the contract.
.020 Taxes are paid only upon receipt of both the ta x return and the tax by License Collector.
Failure of the operator to submit and the License Coll ector to receive both the completed return and payment on or before the due date constitutes non-payment.
.030 Tax returns filed with the City pursuant to this chapter, and information contained therein regarding amounts of gross receipts, adjustments, credits, overcollections, tax, penalty and interest, shall be and remain confidential. Unauthorized disclosure or use of such confidential information by any officer, agent or employee of the City shall constitute a misdemeanor; provided, however, this sub section shall not apply to any disclosures made in connection with any hearing, appeal, or any civil action or proceeding relating to the determinatio n or recovery of the Tax, or any prosecution of any person for violation of any provisi on of this chapter or any criminal or civil proceeding pertaining to the Tax. This subsection shall n ot prohibit, nor be construed to prohibit, disclosure of statistical or cumulative information derived from tax returns, when the information disclosed does not identify or relate to any particular taxpayer. This subsection shall not prohibit, nor be construed to prohibit, any disclosure of tax returns or information contained therein which disclosure is compelled by an order of court or other judicial process.