Transient Room Taxes

• What is Transient Room Tax?
• Reporting and Remitting Transient Room Tax
• Exemptions
• Tax Rates
• Forms and Publications
• Additional Information

What is Transient Room Tax?

Transient room tax (TRT) can be imposed by a county, city or town to rent temporary lodging for stays of less than 30 consecutive days at:

• Hotels
• Motels
• Inns
• Trailer courts
• Campgrounds
• Tourist homes
• Similar accommodations

TRT is charged in addition to sales and other applicable taxes. However, it doesn’t apply to charges for:

• Exercise facilities
• Dry cleaning services
• Safety deposit box rentals
• Telephone charges
• Vending machines sales
• Video/movie charges
• Rooms not used for lodging (meeting and convention rooms, etc.)

See Pub 56, Sales Tax Information for Lodging Providers or the online Sales & Use Tax Workshop for more information on all TRT and lodging accommodations.

Reporting and Paying Transient Room Tax

TRT is reported and paid using Taxpayer Access Point (TAP) – TC-62T, Transient Room Tax Return. (See Utah Code Section 59-12-302.)

Exemptions

Government Entities

To qualify for the lodging-related sales tax exemption, purchases must be:

• Used for an essential government function; and
• Paid directly by the government agency

Note: Purchases are not “paid directly” if the employee pays with their own funds (even if the money is reimbursed).

This exemption only applies to purchases by:

• Foreign diplomats with a U.S. issued tax exemption, or
• Federal government agencies

Utah State and Utah local government entities must pay transient room taxes at the time of purchase and request a refund from the Utah State Tax Commission.

State and local government entities of other states are not exempt from Utah sales or transient room taxes.

Religious and Charitable Organizations

To qualify for the lodging-related sales tax exemption, purchases must be:

• For $1,000 or greater with a TC-721 Exemption Certificate; or
• Pursuant to a contract with the lodging provider with a TC-73 Sales Tax Exemption Contract (a purchase order is not considered a contract for this purpose).

Note: Purchases are not “paid directly” if the employee pays with their own funds (even if the money is reimbursed).

Religious and charitable organizations that do not meet either condition above must pay sales tax at the time of purchase and request a refund from the Utah State Tax Commission.

Exemption Refund Process

If you are a Utah State or local government agency, you must first apply for a sales tax exemption number by completing form TC-160G, Sales Tax Exemption Number Application for Government Agencies.

If you are a Religious or Charitable Organization, you must first apply for a sales tax exemption number by completing form TC-160, Application for Sales Tax Exemption Number for Religious or Charitable Institutions.

Once you have been approved, you will receive a coupon booklet with 12 coupons and an address Change form (sent upon approval and annually each January).

You may claim refunds each month or wait until you have paid sales tax for several months. However, you must claim your refund within 3 years from the date you paid the sales tax. We must deny claims filed after 3 years.

Remember these guidelines when submitting your coupon:

• Complete and send original coupons.
• Use the coupon for the correct tax period. (The Tax Period is the month you send your refund request; not the month you paid the sales tax.)
• Discard any coupons you don’t use.
• Don’t send coupon copies.

Use the Change form in the booklet for address corrections. Use form TC-69C, Notice of Change for a Tax Account, for other corrections.

Keep the following records for 3 years from the refund request date. You may have to provide these records to the Tax Commission:

• Receipts
• Invoices
• Schedules
• Work papers used to calculate the refunds

Tax Rates

Tax rates vary from one location to another and may change quarterly. The Tax Commission posts updated rates at tax.utah.gov/sales/rates approximately two months before the effective date.

Tax Commission Publications

• Publication 25 – Sales and Use Tax General Information
• Publication 56 – Utah Sales Tax Info for Lodging Providers
• All Tax Commission Publications

Additional Information

Contact the Tax Commission with questions at:

Utah State Tax Commission 210 N 1950 W Salt Lake City UT 84134 taxmaster@utah.gov 801-297-7705 1-800-662-4335 ext. 7705