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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-05-08; City Council; 10622; APPEAL OF TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY TAX LATE PENALTY PAYMENT - CARLSBAD INN HOTEL, 4 a a, s u -rl 0) ?I a rl -d 3 (d a, a rd a 0 V 0 m \ 00 \z ul o 4 1 2 3 0 0 6 UP GAHLSUAU - AUtNwIJILL tv lf AB# /'? 42 a TITLE DEP CITY MTG. DEPT.FTN CITY RECOMMENDED ACTION: 5/8/90 APPEAL OF TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY TAX LATE PENALTY PAYMENT - CARLSBAD INN HOTEL By minute motion, deny the Carlsbad Inn Hotel appeal of a 10% late pena' on Transient Occupancy Tax for January, 1990. ITEM EXPLANATION: The Carlsbad Municipal Code (Chapter 3.12) states, "For the privilege occupancy in any hotel, each transient . . . shall pay a tax in the amount . . . ten percent of the rent charged by the operator . . . All operators sh, remit monthly the full amount of taxes collected . . . Taxes remitted montl and actually received ... on or before the last day of the following mol shall be deemed timely ...; otherwise, the taxes are delinquent and subjl to penalties imposed by Section 3.12.080 ... Any operator who fails to rei any tax imposed ... within the time required shall pay a penalty of percent of the amount of the tax in addition to the amount of the tax." Under this code section the City staff accepts any transient occupancy (TOT) payment received with a postmark dated on or before the last day the month as having effectively met the requirement of the code. Payme received with a postmark later than the last day of the end of the month which the tax is due are assessed a 10% late penalty. received after February 28, 1990, the due date for these payments. In e case the payment had been stamped by the internal mail system witt February 28, 1990 date but stamped by the post office with a March 1, 1 date. The post office date is considered to be the mailing date official purposes. The Carlsbad Inn Hotel is appealing to the City Council for a dismissal late penalties related to the January tax obligation on the follow grounds : 1. The TOT payment was mailed at the Carlsbad Post Office on February 28, 1990 and for unknown reasons was not postmarked until March 1, 1990 at the San Diego Post Office. The Carlsbad Inn has paid all previous TOT on time. Staff recommends that the appeal be denied. The code is clear on the is of assessment of late penalties and similar penalties have been assessed other hotels in the past under this same section of the code. FISCAL IMPACT: The Carlsbad Inn Hotel has been assessed a late penalty of $1,130.02 the month of January, 1990. This represents 10% of the tax due for t month. The granting of the appeal will result in the loss of this amo in TOT revenue for fiscal year 1989-90. (The TOT rate in effect as January 1, 1990 is 10% of the room rent). The Carlsbad Inn Hotel January 1990 payment was one of three payme 2. 0 0 Page Two of Agenda Bill No. /f, L,Z* EXHIBITS : Letter from Winner’s Circle Resort dated March 13, 1990. Letter from Winner’s Circle Resort dated March 7, 1990. Letter from U.S. Postal Service dated March 12, 1990. March 13, 1990 HESORTS Internntionnl, tnc. CITY OF CARLSBAD 1200 Elm Avenue Carlsbad, CA 92008-1989 ATTENTION: James F. Elliott Finance Director REFERENCE: Penalty on Occupancy Tax Carlsbad Inn Hotel/HOA Dear Mr. Elliott: In reference to our phone conversation of last week, this le is a request for the Council of the City of Carlsbad to cons waiving the $928.01 Carlsbad Inn Hotel penalty and $20 Carlsbad Inn HOA penalty for late filing of our January occup Our office had brought these returns to the post office be 6:OO on February 28, 1990. As explained to me by the Carl post office, the mail then gets sent to the San Diego branc the post office. Although they believe the mail would have promptly out of Carlsbad, they explained that there could possibility that it might be delayed at the San Diego post of due to equipment failure, etc. I have written a letter to San Diego post office asking them to research this matter attached is a copy of their response. I am sure that if the city checks their records, they will that I have always made sure that these occupancy taxes are on time. I would appreciate your consideration of this rec to waive the penalties due to the circumstances. In the fut I will plan to allow several days for these occupancy tax ret to get to the City of Carlsbad. Please call if you have any questions. Thank you for consideration of this request. Very truly yours, Rosemarie Fecko. Staff Accountant Attachment 1’ o 130~ 4068 Carlsbad. CA 92008 (619) 431-8500 Fax (619) 721-544’ L 0 - RESORTS March 7, 1990 latcrnat ional. lac. U.S. POSTAL OFFICE 2535 Midway Drive San Diego, CA 92199-9631 ATTN: Consumer Affairs Representative Gentlemen: On February 28, 1990, we brought a Carlsbad occupancy tax reti to the Carlsbad post office before 6:OO p.m. to be mailed i postmarked 2/28/90. I received a letter from the City Carlsbad assessing a 10% penalty to our hotel because the let. had a March 1 postmark from the post office (see attached). I contacted Mr. Gosman at the Carlsbad post office, who assui me that all the mail was sent out of the Carlsbad post office Feburary 28. He suggested I contact you to see if there 1 possibly an equipment problem or any other reason as to why thc letters were not postmarked until the following day. I would appreciate a response as I was very disturbed to rece. a penalty on a tax that I know I paid on time. Thanks for yc help in this matter. Very truly yours, RLh--&- &dA Rosemarie Fecko Staff Accountant RF : mc Attachment cc: Eric Siege1 City of Carlsbad 1200 Elm Avenue Carlsbad, CA 92008-1989 ATTN: James Elliott U.S. Postal Office 2772 Roosevelt Carlsbad, CA 92008 ATTN: Mr. Gosman 1 P.0 BOX 4068 Carlsbad, CA 92008 (619) 431-8500 Fax (619) 721-533' e ,RTES POST 0 ;*\ :mR *-• +****** United States Postal Setvice To whom it may concern, On March 7, 1990, Rosemarie Fecko of Carlsbad Jnn Limited, cc tacted me concerning a occupancy tax return that she had mail to your office on Feb. 28, 1990 and was assessed a late ctiarg for being mailed late. Ms. Feckn assured me that sh~ had mail ttic3 lettei, frnm the col iection bsx in this off ice or' ?--79-99 beqot-e our final mail pick-up of 6:OO PM. but her lettel- had been postmar\ked in San Diega with the cancelation date of 3-1 I explained to Ms. Fscko that the collection boxes in this of are picked-up at the final collection time as posted, 6:OO PF that I cannot explain the 3-1-90 cancelation. All out going n for this Post Office is canceled and processed at the San @ic Main Post Office and there are some possibilities that would cause a late postmarking on the letter. Though I do not have explanat-ion for this particular problem, I have no reason to doubt Ms. Fecko's statement that she had mailed the letter or 2-28 -90. - / 0 R. L. Gosman, Supt. Window Services IJSPS 2772 Roosevelt St. Carlsbad, Ca. 92008-9998 lSP u;r'.