Lodging tax to include vacation rental homes

Bend.com news sources
Posted: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 7:58 PM
SALEM — Oregon's lodging tax will change January 1. Homeowners who rent out their vacation homes need to know how the new law will affect them, the Oregon Department of Revenue announced.
The 2005 Legislature passed a law that changes the state lodging tax. Before this new law, the lodging tax applied only to hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, RV park spaces, resorts, inns, cabins, condominiums, duplexes, and some short-term rental apartments. Beginning January 1, the law will include vacation rental houses, tent spaces and yurts in private and public campgrounds, and any other unit, or portion of a unit, used for short-term vacation, business, or recreational purposes.

If you own a vacation home that you rent out, you must register with the Oregon Department of Revenue. Registration forms are available online at www.oregon.gov/DOR/BUS. You also must collect the lodging tax from your customers when they pay you the vacation rental fee. You must pay the tax quarterly to the Oregon Department of Revenue. The tax is 1 percent of gross lodging sales.

There are several exemptions to this tax, including dwelling units that provide lodging for less than 30 days in a calendar year. For example: A hunting lodge that is open only for a season that is less than 30 days. Also, nonprofit youth or church camps, nonprofit conference centers, certain qualifying nonprofit facilities, and lodgers who spend at least 30 consecutive days at the same facility also are exempt.

"A portion of this lodging tax goes back to the area it was collected from," said Doneva Miletta, state lodging tax program coordinator. "The statewide lodging tax is different from city and county lodging taxes because those fund a variety of local programs. This tax promotes tourism throughout Oregon."

Instant Software develops ISILink for vacation rental home managers

The Florida-based technology firm provides reservation management systems for the vacation rental industry.

According to the company, vacation rental management companies can now connect with travel global distribution channels via ISILink. An official release states: ISILink acts as a database linking property information and rental availability to various sales distribution channels. With ISILink, the door is open for small vacation rental operators to reach travel agents and travel agencies efficiently and effectively.

''The entire line of Instant Software Group's products, including First Resort Software, Entech and Property Plus, will now have a method to reach the GDS. ISILink can also provide vacation rental properties easy access to other key distribution systems such as web based agencies and portals,'' states the company.

"Smaller vacation rental property companies have always been at a decided disadvantage when it came to the travel distribution channels not only because of their size, but the type of accommodations offered made it difficult to provide the critical mass needed to pave the way for access to the GDS system," said Dave Hopcroft, founder and President of Instant Software. "ISILink gives us critical mass and gives our partners the flexibility to compete anywhere they want."

"Vacation home managers want to use multiple distribution channels at the same time and ISILink makes this easy and most importantly, allows independent owners to reach a wider audience through distribution channels," said Hopcroft.