The Marshall County Council members considered an ordinance presented by Treasurer Angie Birchmeier this week that would change the remittance of the Innkeepers Tax.
Birchmeier explained that anything collected through a marketplace facilitator has to be remitted to the Indiana Department of Revenue and anything local is distributed to the Marshall County Treasurer’s Office.
Birchmeier stated, “We had some issues last year – it was a unique year all the way around. We had a lot of confusion with certain hotelyers not understanding with duplicated payments and not receiving payments. What I am requesting is that we move away from this hybrid system and remit all to the Indiana Department of Revenue.”
She added that the Treasurer’s Office already gets a report from the Indiana Department of Revenue through INTIME that outlines which entity has paid, when payment was received, any delinquent payments, and any penalties assessed. Birchmeier said a deposit of the Auditor of State comes monthly for those remitting directly to the Indiana Department of Revenue so it would be an easier process to change it to simply go to the state.
“The penalty portion the county keeps, the rest of it goes to tourism. We have an agreement in place with tourism where we can share that information. Since Innkeepers is proprietary that is something that we cannot just give out to anybody, but we did have agreements passed when this marketplace facilitator law came into effect in 2019 which is still valid.”
The council approved the ordinance with a unanimous vote.
