Use and Occupancy Tax | Services (2024)

FAQs

Who pays Philadelphia use and occupancy taxes? ›

You have to pay the Use and Occupancy (U&O) Tax if: Your business is physically located in Philadelphia. You operate your business from your Philadelphia residence. You, your tenants, or your sub-tenants use your Philadelphia property for business purposes.

“Occupancy” means taking possession of a room(s) for the purpose of dwelling, sleeping or lodging. ( Sec. 4.72.020 E Definitions)

Rates. The state hotel occupancy tax rate is 6 percent (. 06) of the cost of a room. Cities and certain counties and special purpose districts are authorized to impose an additional local hotel tax that the local taxing authority collects.

Transient occupancy tax (TOT) is a voter approved tax collected from lodgers when they rent a house, cabin, motel/hotel room, campsite or RV space in the county for 30 days or less.

Exemptions. (a) Permanent residents. A permanent resident defined in § 38.3 (relating to definitions), is excluded from Hotel Occupancy Tax liability upon the occupancy of any room or rooms in a hotel for any rental period during which, or at the expiration of which, he is or becomes a permanent resident.

Occupation taxes are assessed on all residents that hold an occupation. The Occupation Assessment Tax can be a flat tax rate or an assessed value depending on your occupation. How is my occupation value set? Each County in the Commonwealth establishes their own list of occupation codes and the value assigned to each.

Occupancy costs are those costs related to occupying a space including; rent, real estate taxes, personal property taxes, insurance on building and contents, depreciation, and amortization expenses.

The formula to calculate the occupancy cost percentage is the ratio between the total occupancy cost and gross sales at the given property, expressed as a percentage. Since the occupancy cost ratio is expressed as a percentage, the output must then be multiplied by 100.

Occupancy rate is the percentage of occupied rooms in your property at a given time. It is one of the most high-level indicators of success and is calculated by dividing the total number of rooms occupied, by the total number of rooms available, times 100, creating a percentage such as 75% occupancy.

A hotel occupancy tax is a tax placed on each nights' stay at a hotel. You might also encounter this tax as hotel lodging tax, tourist tax, room tax or sales tax. The tax, as all other taxes, was created as a way to increase government revenues.

What states have the highest hotel tax? ›

To illustrate, Connecticut has the highest statewide lodging tax rate at 15% but forbids all local authorities from imposing additional lodging taxes. On the other hand, Oregon imposes a low state lodging rate but does not restrict local taxes.

Florida's 6% state sales tax, plus any applicable discretionary sales surtax, applies to rental charges or room rates paid for the right to use or occupy living quarters or sleeping or housekeeping accommodations for rental periods six months or less, often called “transient rental accommodations” or “transient rentals ...

Occupancy taxes typically apply to short-term lodging rentals, and go by many names, such as hotel tax, hotel/motel tax, lodging tax and transient room tax. The laws that impose these taxes typically define the length of stay subject to the tax.

Transient occupancy tax (“TOT”) is levied on the privilege of using a hotel accommodation. The tax was originally designed to compensate local government for the increased public service costs incurred by serving local tourists.

Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is a performance measure used in the hospitality industry. RevPAR is calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate by its occupancy rate. RevPAR is also calculated by dividing total room revenue by the total number of rooms available in the period being measured.

The tax applies to payments that a person receives from an employer in return for work or services. All employed Philadelphia residents owe the Wage Tax, regardless of where they work. Non-residents who work in Philadelphia must also pay the Wage Tax.

The use tax rate is the same as the sales tax rate: 6 percent state tax, plus an additional 1 percent local tax for items purchased in delivered to or used in Allegheny County and 2 percent local tax for Philadelphia.

Tax rates, penalties, & fees

The City's Hotel Tax rate is 8.5% of the total amount paid by the guest. The hotel operator is responsible for collecting the tax from guests. In addition to the City's Hotel Tax, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania imposes its own 7% Hotel Tax on the amount paid by the guest.

The tax is usually split evenly between the buyer and the seller, but this is not a legal requirement. The City has the right to collect 100% of the tax from either party, so it's in the best interest of the buyer to make sure the tax is paid in full at the closing of the sale.