Bill > H2539

This bill expands the definition of "doing business in the commonwealth" to include entities that facilitate the booking of hotel rooms online, such as online travel agencies or booking platforms, even if they don't directly own or operate the lodging. It introduces the term "room reseller" to refer to these entities that arrange for the transfer of occupancy of accommodations and clarifies that both operators (hotels, motels, etc.) and room resellers are responsible for collecting and remitting the room occupancy excise tax, which is a tax on temporary lodging. The bill also allows cities and towns to impose a local excise tax on these room resellers and clarifies how the tax is calculated and collected when a room reseller is involved, ensuring that the tax is applied to the full rental amount and that both the operator and reseller have distinct responsibilities for its collection and remittance to avoid double taxation or liability for each other's errors.