To: Board of Supervisors
From: Treasurer/Tax Collector
Agenda Section: Consent
SUBJECT:
title
HomeAway.Com, Inc Voluntary Collection Agreement
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RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve and execute a Voluntary Collection Agreement (VCA) (Attachment 1) with HomeAway, Inc. (HomeAway) to collect and remit Transient Occupancy Taxes (TOT) on behalf of third-party individuals or entities that utilize HomeAway's online booking platform for short-term lodging in the county.
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SOURCE OF FUNDING:
N/A. The VCA will be revenue positive.
DISCUSSION:
HomeAway facilitates short term lodging in Humboldt County whereby HomeAway Hosts (i.e., short-term lodging owners / operators) rent out a room or rooms, a living space, or an entire house for less than thirty days through the internet-based platform that HomeAway maintains. That HomeAway platform, however, makes it nearly impossible for the county to determine the locations of the rentals HomeAway facilitates, short of renting them and then being told of the location. Not knowing the location of these rentals facilitated by HomeAway makes collection efforts of the 10% TOT directly from the owners / operators, as required by Humboldt County Code section 712-3, unreasonably difficult and too costly to collect if that short-term lodging is only facilitated through HomeAway.
Once executed, the VCA will create a collection arrangement whereby HomeAway will deduct 10% from the gross rent amount of all short term lodging HomeAway facilitates in the unincorporated areas of the county on behalf of the owners / operators that utilize the HomeAway platform, and thereby bring those owners / operators into compliance with the 10% TOT county code requirement. The VCA also stipulates that those TOT amounts collected be remitted to the T-TC on a quarterly basis. Once in force, the VCA will capture TOT from rents facilitated through the HomeAway platform which are not currently bei...
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