N.J. Stat. tit. 40, ch. 48E

in effect

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-1 Short title

This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Hotel Occupancy Tax Act." L.1981, c. 77, s. 1.

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-2 Definitions.

2. As used in this act "hotel" means a building or portion of a building which is regularly used and kept open as such for the lodging of guests. "Hotel" includes an apartment hotel, a motel, inn, and rooming or boarding house or club, whether or not meals are served, but does not include a transient accommodation. "Obtained through a transient space marketplace" means that payment for the accommodation is made through a means provided by the marketplace or travel agency, either directly or indirectly, regardless of which person or entity receives the payment, and where the contracting for the accommodation is made through the marketplace or travel agency. "Professionally managed unit" means a room, group of rooms, or other living or sleeping space for the lodging of occupants in the State, that is offered for rent as a rental unit that does not share any living or sleeping space with any other rental unit, and that is directly or indirectly owned or controlled by a person offering for rent two or more other units during the calendar year. "Residence" means a house, condominium, or other residential dwelling unit in a building or structure or part of a building or structure that is designed, constructed, leased, rented, let or hired out, or otherwise made available for use as a residence. "Transient accommodation" means a room, group of rooms, or other living or sleeping space for the lodging of occupants, including but not limited to residences or buildings used as residences, that is obtained through a transient space marketplace or is a professionally managed unit. "Transient accommodation" does not include: a hotel or hotel room; a room, group of rooms, or other living or sleeping space used as a place of assembly; a dormitory or other similar residential facility of an elementary or secondary school or a college or university; a hospital, nursing home, or other similar residential facility of a provider of services for the care, support and treatment of individuals that is licensed by the State; a campsite, cabin, lean-to, or other similar residential facility of a campground or an adult or youth camp; a furnished or unfurnished private residential property, including but not limited to condominiums, bungalows, single-family homes and similar living units, where no maid service, room service, linen changing service or other common hotel services are made available by the lessor and where the keys to the furnished or unfurnished private residential property, whether a physical key, access to a keyless locking mechanism, or other means of physical ingress to the furnished or unfurnished private residential property, are provided to the lessee at the location of an offsite real estate broker licensed by the New Jersey Real Estate Commission pursuant to R.S.45:15-1 et seq.; or leases of real property with a term of at least 90 consecutive days. "Transient space marketplace" means a marketplace or travel agency through which a person may offer transient accommodations to customers and through which customers may arrange for occupancies of transient accommodations. "Transient space marketplace" does not include a marketplace or travel agency that exclusively offers transient accommodations in the State owned by the owner of the marketplace or travel agency. L.1981, c.77, s.2; amended 2018, c.49, s.12; 2018, c.132, s.8; 2019, c.235, s.8.

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-3 Additional tax may be imposed.

3. The governing body of any city of the first class or the governing body of any city of the second class in which there is located a terminal of an international airport may make, amend, repeal and enforce an ordinance imposing in the city a tax, not to exceed 6%, on charges for the use or occupation of rooms in hotels or transient accommodations which tax shall be in addition to any other tax imposed by law. L.1981, c.77, s.3; amended 1991, c.23, s.3; 2018, c.49, s.13.

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-4 Collection of tax.

4. a. The tax shall be collected on behalf of the city by the person collecting the use or occupancy charge from the hotel or transient accommodation customer. b. Every person required to collect any tax imposed by the ordinance shall be personally liable for the tax imposed, collected or required to be collected hereunder. Any such person shall have the same right in respect to collecting the tax from his customer as if the tax were a part of the use or occupancy charge and payable at the same time; provided, however, that the chief fiscal officer of the city shall be joined as a party in any action or proceeding brought to collect the tax. c. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or administrative action to the contrary, transient space marketplaces shall be required to collect and pay on behalf of persons engaged in the business of providing transient accommodations located in this State the tax for transactions obtained through the transient space marketplace. For not less than four years following the end of the calendar year in which the transaction occurred, the transient space marketplace shall maintain the following data for those transactions consummated through the transient space marketplace: (1) The name of the person who provided the transient accommodation; (2) The name of the customer who procured occupancy of the transient accommodation; (3) The address, including any unit designation, of the transient accommodation; (4) The dates and nightly rates for which the consumer procured occupancy of the transient accommodation; (5) The municipal transient accommodation registration number, if applicable; (6) A statement as to whether such booking services will be provided in connection with (i) short-term rental of the entirety of such unit, (ii) short-term rental of part of such unit, but not the entirety of such unit, and/or (iii) short-term rental of the entirety of such unit, or part thereof, in which a non-short-term occupant will continue to occupy such unit for the duration of such short-term rental; (7) The individualized name or number of each such advertisement or listing connected to such unit and the uniform resource locator (URL) for each such listing or advertisement, where applicable; and (8) Such other information as the Division of Taxation may by rule require. The Division of Taxation may audit transient space marketplaces as necessary to ensure data accuracy and enforce tax compliance. d. No person required to collect any tax hereunder shall advertise or hold out to any person or to the public in general, in any manner, directly or indirectly, that the tax will not be separately charged and stated to the customer or that the tax will be refunded to the customer. e. All revenues collected from the tax shall be remitted to the chief fiscal officer of the city on or before the dates on which municipal real property taxes are due. f. The city shall enforce the payment of delinquent hotel occupancy taxes in the same manner as provided for municipal real property taxes. L.1981, c.77, s.4; amended 2018, c.49, s.14; 2019, c.235, s.9.

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-5 Hotel owners, tax payments; calculation, refund.

5. a. Except as provided in subsection e. of this section, for any calendar year, the owner of a hotel shall be required to pay the greater of the real property tax (defined to be the payment of ad valorem taxes or payment in lieu of taxes or payment of annual service charges) or the hotel use or occupancy tax, to be calculated as follows: (1) If the quarterly installment of the real property tax is less than the quarterly installment of the hotel use or occupancy tax, the owner shall be required to pay only the hotel use or occupancy tax. (2) If the quarterly installment of the real property tax is greater than the quarterly installment of the hotel use or occupancy tax, the owner shall be required to pay the hotel use or occupancy tax, and, in addition, the owner shall be required to make a supplemental payment. For the purposes of this section, "supplemental payment" means an amount equal to the excess of the real property tax installment over the hotel use or occupancy tax installment. b. At the end of the calendar year, the total hotel use or occupancy tax payments made during the year shall be adjusted as follows: (1) If the total of the hotel use or occupancy tax payments, excluding any supplemental payments, made during the year exceeds the total real property tax for that year, the city shall refund to the owner the total amount of the supplemental payments, if any, made during the year; or (2) If the total of the hotel use or occupancy tax payments, excluding any supplemental payments, made during the year does not exceed the total real property tax for the year, and if the total of the hotel use or occupancy tax payments and supplemental payments made during the year does exceed the total real property tax for the year, the city shall refund to the owner the difference between: (a) the total property tax paid and (b) the sum of the hotel or occupancy tax paid plus the supplemental payments paid. c. The refunds shall be paid to the owner without interest by July 1 of the succeeding year or 15 days after the adoption of the annual budget by the municipal council, whichever is later. d. No refund shall be made in any year in which the owner has failed to be current in its hotel use or occupancy tax, including any supplemental payments required under this section. For the purposes of this section, "current" means that quarterly installments of tax have been paid in accordance with R.S.54:4-66. e. A city imposing a hotel use or occupancy tax pursuant to the provisions of section 3 of P.L.1981, c.77 (C.40:48E-3), by ordinance, may require that any hotel located within the municipality annually pay to the municipality both the real property tax due and owing on the hotel, defined to be the payment of ad valorem taxes or payment in lieu of taxes or payment of annual service charges, and the hotel use or occupancy tax authorized pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1981, c.77 (C.40:48E-3). L.1981, c.77, s.5; amended 1991, c.23, ss.1,2; 2006, c.97, s.1.

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-6 Tax in addition to sales and use tax

The tax imposed hereunder shall be in addition to the tax imposed by the "Sales and Use Tax Act" (P.L.1966, c. 30, C. 54:32B-1 et seq.). L.1981, c. 77, s. 6.

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-7 Surcharge on hotel occupancies, certain municipalities, funding fire services.

1. a. A surcharge at the rate of $3 per day shall be imposed for every occupancy of a room or rooms in a hotel that is subject to taxation pursuant to subsection (d) of section 3 of P.L.1996, c.30 (C.54:32B-3) and is located in a city of the first class in which there is located an international airport. The surcharge imposed under this section shall be in addition to any other tax or fee imposed pursuant to statute or local ordinance or resolution by any governmental entity upon the occupancy of a hotel room in the municipality. b. The surcharge imposed pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be collected and administered by the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury. In carrying out the provisions of this subsection, the director shall have all the powers granted under the “Sales and Use Tax Act,” P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.). The director shall determine and certify to the State Treasurer on a monthly basis the amount of revenues collected by the director pursuant to subsection a. of this section. The State Treasurer, upon the certification of the director and upon the warrant of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury, shall pay and distribute the amount so determined and certified on a monthly basis to the municipality in which the hotel is located. c. All surcharge revenues received by a municipality pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall be deposited into a dedicated fire services trust fund. Amounts deposited in the trust fund shall be used by the municipality solely and exclusively to fund appropriations for firefighting services. The amount deposited into the dedicated fire services trust fund shall be anticipated in the budget of the municipality as a special item of revenue and as an appropriation item of an amount equal to any such special item of revenue pursuant to N.J.S.40A:4-87. The amount deposited into the fire services trust fund shall be inserted into the annual budget as a special item of revenue or appropriation only when the total amount appropriated for firefighting services in the adopted budget of the municipality for the current fiscal year is greater than the amount appropriated for firefighting services in the previous fiscal year, exclusive of any amount appropriated from the fire services trust fund appropriated in the budget. The amount appropriated and expended for the hiring and retention of employees of the fire service shall not exceed 37 percent of all surcharge revenues received by the municipality and deposited into the dedicated fire services trust fund in the period beginning January 1, 2026 and ending December 31, 2028. Beginning January 1, 2029, the Director of the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs may set the maximum percentage of surcharge revenue received by the municipality that may be utilized for the hiring and retention of employees of the fire service. d. As used in this section: “Fire service” means a municipal agency or department, or a fire district, utilizing volunteer, career, or part-paid firefighters for rescue, fire suppression, and related activities. “Firefighting services” means the hiring, retention, and training of employees of the fire service, the acquisition of equipment for the fire service, and the undertaking of capital improvements benefitting the fire service of the municipality authorized to receive surcharges pursuant to subsection a. of this section. “Occupied room” means a room or rooms of any kind in any part of a hotel, other than a place of assembly, that is used or possessed by a guest or guests overnight or for a portion of a day, whether or not for consideration. L.2025, c.158, s.1.

N.J. Stat. § 40:48E-8 Surcharge collected to be appropriated to relevant municipality, dedicated fire services trust fund.

2. Subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury, the amounts collected and administered, pursuant to subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.2025, c.158 (C.40:48E-7), by the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury from the $3 per day surcharge imposed pursuant to subsection a. of section 1 of P.L.2025, c.158 (C.40:48E-7), are hereby appropriated to the relevant municipality for deposit in the municipality’s dedicated fire services trust fund, as provided for pursuant to subsection c. of section 1 of P.L.2025, c.158 (C.40:48E-7). L.2025, c.158, s.2.

Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislative-activity/statutesFetched: 10/17/2026