Kamaaina rates?

[kalakoa]

the state GET office and the IRS because they are collecting taxes on fees

Resort fee is not yet levied TAT; that bill hasn't passed (yet).

[EightFingers]

I wondered about that.
So why not charge $1 per night and $200 per night “resort fee”?
So is that why VRBOs charge those huge “cleaning fees”....because they aren’t TAT taxed?
4% GET is a lot cheaper than 14% TAT!

Puna: Our roosters crow first

[terracore]

I've heard of people claiming religious exemption from resort fees as well. Like the clothing at the pool is "immoral" and it's against their religion to support the sinful clothing by paying for it.

[LazyLehua]

Royal Kona has a good Kam rate and free parking.

Stacey
Living the life in Cali and Hawai‘i

[DoryGray]

I love the Kona Hotel in Holualoa. It's basically like a hostel but has tons of old Hawaiian charm & is 100 years old. Very inexpensive. Rooms 2 & 3 have huge ocean views.

[KeaauRich]

quote:

---

Originally posted by EightFingers

I wondered about that.
So why not charge $1 per night and $200 per night “resort fee”?
So is that why VRBOs charge those huge “cleaning fees”....because they aren’t TAT taxed?
4% GET is a lot cheaper than 14% TAT!

Puna: Our roosters crow first

---

I always operated from the assumption that Vacation Rental cleaning fees are subject to the Transient Accommodations Tax. The Tax Department's TAT Brochure's wording is unclear (anyone surprised?), but I interpret it to mean if the cleaning fee is a required fee paid at the same time as the booking (and therefore "gross rental proceeds"), it's taxable. Here's what the brochure says:

4. What is included in gross rental proceeds?
Your gross rental proceeds are the amounts you
receive in cash, goods, or services for renting a transient
accommodation without any deductions for costs. For
example, you may not deduct interest paid on a mortgage,
labor costs, the cost of supplies, or costs incurred to provide
services to guests or tenants.
Gross rental proceeds do not include charges for guest
amenities such as meals, telephone calls, and laundry
services. However, gross rental proceeds do include fees,
such as maintenance fees, cleaning fees and management
fees, that are not usually charged separately to guests or
tenants.

[kalakoa]

Tax Department's TAT Brochure's wording is unclear

They're trying to fix that.

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=714&year=2019

RELATING TO THE TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX.

Imposes the transient accommodations tax on resort fees that are calculated separately from the advertised transient accommodation's rate.

I don't think this bill survived the session but I'm sure it will be back because rail.

[macuu222]

Thank You for all the advice. We finally booked a hotel room at Uncle Billy's in Kona because we wanted to be around all the shops and restaurants. Using Hotel.Com we found a rate of $115.00 and then realized we had accumulated one hotel free night (from previous hotel stays on the mainland) so all we had to pay was the tax.

[terracore]

quote:

---

Originally posted by EightFingers

I wondered about that.
So why not charge $1 per night and $200 per night “resort fee”?
So is that why VRBOs charge those huge “cleaning fees”....because they aren’t TAT taxed?
4% GET is a lot cheaper than 14% TAT!

Puna: Our roosters crow first

---

Back in "the day" eBay merchants would sell their stuff for a penny and charge exorbitant shipping fees because 1) no eBay commission on shipping and 2) no refunds on shipping fees if unhappy with the item.

The problem with "fixing" this is, let's say you sell lead shipping weights. Most of your costs are actually the shipping. It wouldn't be fair to charge eBay fees on shipping fees collected by the merchant.

But eventually eBay gave in to it's greed and started applying their fees to shipping. The Day After, a lot of merchants stopped shipping to Alaska / Hawaii. The way eBay charged the fees was that it was only on the "lowest cost" shipping option. Since most sellers offer some sort of free shipping, 0% of free is still 0% ebay fees (not really 0% because absorbed in item cost), but paying eBay a commission on collected shipping costs to Hawaii caused a lot of merchants to just cross us off their list of headaches.

I'm not sure what the current policy is, I just remember how we got here.

[birdmove]

Yeah, I used to buy stuff on ebay when we lived in Washington State. I don't waste my time with them any more, as shipping is out of sight. And often they won't ship to Hawaii anyway. I now check stuff through Walmart online, and Target and Amazon. But, Amazon has competition for my dollar. Got something through Target for $95.00 that would have been $125.00 from Amazon. Target gives 5% off in store AND online orders if you have a red card through them.Problem? You can return it to Target in Hilo.

Jon in Keaau/HPP