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SB 763

Creating Public Electrical Savings Act

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Craig Hart and 3 co-sponsors

Garrett County expands the hotel tax to include short-term vacation rentals booked online, shifting collection to platforms or managers and raising late payments interest.

Referred to Rules on 3rd reading
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Bill Summary · SB 763

SB 763 — Garrett County — Hotel Rental Tax — Alterations

Status: Hearing scheduled 2/25 at 1:00 p.m. | Introduced: Feb 21, 2025 | Effective date: July 1, 2025

Purpose

To expand Garrett County’s hotel rental tax base to cover certain short‑term vacation rentals booked through online platforms and to shift collection/remittance responsibilities to those platforms or rental managers, while increasing the late‑payment interest rate for county hotel taxes.

Key provisions

  • Redefines “hotel” in Garrett County to expressly include a “transient vacation rental unit.”

    • A “transient vacation rental unit” is defined as a single building offering complete living accommodations with up to 8 bedrooms and maximum overnight occupancy of two persons per bedroom plus an additional four persons.

  • Adds a definition of “short‑term rental platform”: an Internet service that advertises hotels and is compensated for managing reservations on behalf of the hotel.

  • Collection and remittance duties: a short‑term rental platform, or a manager/agent/other person engaged by the owner who facilitates rentals and takes payment on the owner’s behalf, must:

    • Perform all duties related to collecting and remitting Garrett County hotel rental tax and other administrative functions required of a hotel under the county tax law; and
    • Be subject to the same penalties that apply to hotels for failure to comply.

  • Interest on late payments: raises the monthly interest rate for unpaid county hotel rental tax in Garrett County from 0.5% to 1.0% (aligning Garrett with several other counties).

Who is affected

  • Hosts/owners of transient vacation rental units in Garrett County (especially those listing on online platforms).
  • Short‑term rental platforms (e.g., online marketplaces) and property managers/agents that process bookings/payments.
  • Garrett County government — increased tax compliance responsibilities on platforms but additional local revenue.
  • Renters/guests — may see tax properly collected at time of booking.

Fiscal impact

  • State: no fiscal effect.
  • Local (Garrett County): revenue increase potentially significant beginning FY 2026 because taxable transactions via online booking platforms would be newly captured. The county’s FY2025 projection was ~$4.0 million in hotel rental tax receipts (rate = 8.0%); incremental revenue depends on booking volume and average transaction value for transient vacation rental units. County expenditures are not changed.
  • Small business: minimal net effect (administrative/collection shifts largely to platforms/managers).

Procedural / related information

  • Bill effective July 1, 2025.
  • Fiscal note (Department of Legislative Services) prepared; designated cross‑file: HB 1278 (Ways & Means).

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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