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Division of Taxation

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Hotel/Motel Occupancy Fee / Municipal Occupancy Tax

New Jersey imposes Sales Tax on hotel and motel occupancies. The current Sales Tax rate is 6.625%.

For Sales Tax purposes, a “hotel/motel” is a building that is regularly used and kept open for the lodging of occupants, is typically maintained by on-site management with front desk reception, and includes customary services, such as maid services and room service.

A room, group of rooms, or other living or sleeping space used as a place of assembly is exempt from Sales Tax.

Returns (Form HM-100) are filed on a monthly basis (20th day of the month following the month for which tax is due).

Monthly distributions of the locally enacted Hotel Motel Occupancy Tax will be sent to each municipality electronically to the same bank account number used for State Aid payments.

If a municipality wants to change their banking information for payments issued by the State, review the Electronic Payment Authorization For Automatic Deposits (ACH Credits) Form for further information.

As a result of concern on the part of municipalities, we have assembled a list of the possible reasons for discrepancies in local distribution. Some of the local shortcomings result from one or more of the following, which may be under the control of the State of New Jersey:

• Hotel failed to file the proper return or filed the proper return too late for inclusion in a timely distribution;
• Hotel failed to pay all (or a portion) of the tax reported and due;
• Incorrect information on the return (i.e. ID number, name);
• Calculation errors;
• United States Postal Service may have misplaced the return;
• State of New Jersey may have misplaced the return or made a processing error;
• Payment made toward another tax (Sales Tax owed $7,200; Hotel Tax owed $4,100; they send a check made out to Sales Tax for $11,300).
• Hotel/Motel list submitted by the municipality improperly included an entity that is not technically a hotel/motel for tax purposes or is unregistered with Taxation.

Some discrepancies not under the State's control:

• Incorrect estimations were calculated on the tax to be paid by the hotel (i.e. Estimate based on an over- or under-stated occupancy rate, incorrect historical data used in estimating annual or periodic cycles, under a contract of greater than 90 days, and/or improper room rate or tariff data);
• Municipal budget over-anticipated the potential revenue available for distribution to the municipality from this source.

We will continue to improve on the distribution of these moneys to the municipalities that have enacted a local ordinance.

Applicable Laws and Rules

N.J.A.C. 18:24, N.J.S.A. 40:48F-5, P.L. 2010, c.55, P.L. 2018, c. 49