Renters Beware - We Will Find You

My office is charged through a county oridinance with administering the tourist development tax (TDT).  It is also known as the "Bed Tax" or "Resort Tax."
Anyone renting their property short term (six months or less) is required to sign up with my office  to remit the 5% TDT collected from the renter.  Landlords should also collect the 6.5 sales tax for the state totaling 11.5%.
Most rentals are in compliance with our office but there are many out there that are not collecting or remitting the tax to our office.  The goal here is to put everyone on a level playing field.    We have a variety of ways for finding non compliant renters:
1.       A few years back we implemented our phone tip line [ 741-4809]  and a tip line on our website to allow residents to turn suspicious non compliant renters into our office.  That keeps us busy.  Since the TDT is "protected" information we cannot report back our findings.
2.       Surfing the web - we actively search the most common places where renters will advertise their rentals.  Just googling "Anna Maria Island" can keep someone busy for days.
3.       Field Deputies - we have our field deputies out and about doing follow-up on leads.  We have even had them pose as “tourists.”
4.       European Visitors – we have scores of properties in Manatee County that are owned by Europeans.  They may say that because the rental transaction took place overseas they are exempt from the tax but the property is still located in Manatee County and subject to local jurisdiction.
5.       Our staff - We remind our staff up in their day to day travels when they see a new For Rent sign go up to report it.
No one likes to pay taxes but until the County government repeals the TDT we are going to do everything we can to do our job collecting this tax and putting everyone renting on a level playing field.
Bottom line – The TDT is a very challenging tax to administer but technology is making it more difficult for those not complying to hide. If you are renting out property over the short term and not signed up with my office, sooner or later we will eventually find you.  Those that do come forward we offer amnesty.