The effective date of the 2019 WI ACT 10 legislation has now passed and we want to keep the lines of communication open. We sent a communication to you on December 16th, 2019 with an initial bulletin to prep you for possible changes. To date no additional information has been provided from marketplace providers or their registered agents to the Tourism Zone Commission.
Today, some of you have reported that you have been notified by VRBO/Homeaway that they have commenced collecting local municipal room tax. We encourage you to seek out this email in your inbox and/or dashboard. If you didn’t receive it, please contact VRBO/Homeaway.
As the consumer utilizing and doing business with your marketplace provider, now is the time to use the tools available to you through your marketplace provider to determine if local municipal room tax is being collected on your behalf. If they are collecting both State Sales Tax and Local Municipal Room tax, you will see 11% collected on the Lodging Taxes line (5.5% Local municipal room tax + 5.5% State Sales Tax = 11%).
This is an important reminder of your responsibility to insist that VRBO gets this process correct for you and that they are following State law. We don’t want to see our permit holders face tax liabilities because they didn’t review their accounts with their online lodging marketplace provider.
Link to VRBO help article: https://help.vrbo.com/articles/What-is-lodging-tax?utm_campaign=VRBO_FPM_53557_REL_OPR_DSH_LEG_LILA_2001&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adhoc&haExternalSourceId=407249d6ec644f1fac0b77666f50a493#one
If you call in to your marketplace provider for support, please ask to be escalated to a supervisor or better yet, someone in the taxation department. Please don’t count on accurate information from front line customer service.
ACTION REQUIRED: If you determine that local municipal room tax is being collected for your property, now is the time to review your settings, description details and rates. If you were collecting local municipal room tax via a fee or as part of your nightly rate, please adjust accordingly.
More information is forthcoming as it becomes available. In the meantime, be diligent, aware and be organized for 2020. We know you will have questions and may require support. This communication is to assist you with how to be prepared, aware and responsible for your online listings with various marketplace providers as Wisconsin ACT 10 takes effect.
You can reach the Tourism Zone office at 920.854.62