Sec. 26-1261. - Certificate of registration.
(a) Every person engaging in the short-term rental business shall file an application for a certificate of registration with the Director of Finance. The application shall be on a form prescribed by the Director of Finance and shall set forth the name under which the applicant intends to operate the rental business, the location of the business, the subdivision of Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3510.4(B) under which the business asserts that it is qualified and such other information as the Director of Finance may require.
(b) Each applicant shall sign the application as owner of the rental business. If the rental business is owned by an association, partnership or corporation, the application shall be signed by a member, partner, executive officer or other person specifically authorized by the association, partnership or corporation to sign.
(c) Upon approval of the application by the Director of Finance, a certificate of registration shall be issued. The certificate shall be conspicuously displayed at all times at the place of business for which it is issued.
(d) The certificate is not assignable and shall be valid only for the person in whose name it is issued and the place of business designated.
(e) A person who has not previously been engaged in the short-term rental business who applies for a certificate of registration pursuant to this section shall be eligible for registration upon such person's certification that such person anticipates meeting the requirements of a specific subdivision of Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3510.4(B), designated by the applicant at the time of application, during the year for which registration is sought.
(f) In the event the Director of Finance makes a written determination that a rental business previously certified as a short-term rental business pursuant to this article has failed to meet either of the tests set forth in Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3510.4(B) during a preceding tax year, such business shall lose its certification as a short-term rental business and shall be subject to the business personal property tax with respect to all rental property for the tax year in which such certification is lost and any subsequent tax years until such time as the rental business obtains recertification pursuant to this subsection. In the event that a rental business loses its certification as a short-term rental business pursuant to this subsection, such business shall not be required to refund to customers daily rental property taxes previously collected in good faith and shall not be subject to assessment for business personal property taxes with respect to rental property for tax years preceding the year in which the certification is lost unless the Director of Finance makes a written determination that the business obtained its certification by knowingly making materially false statements in its application, in which case the Director of Finance may assess the taxpayer the amount of the difference between short-term rental property taxes remitted by such business during the period in which the taxpayer wrongfully held certification and the business personal property taxes that would have been due during such period but for the certification obtained by the making of the materially false statements. Any such assessment, and any determination not to certify or to decertify a rental business as a short-term rental business as defined in this section, may be appealed pursuant to the procedures and requirements set forth in the Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3983.1 for appeals of local business taxes, which shall apply mutatis mutandis to such assessments and certification decisions.
(g) A rental business that has been decertified pursuant to the provisions of Subsection (f) of this section shall be eligible for recertification for a subsequent tax year upon a showing that it has met one of the tests provided in Code of Virginia, § 58.1-3510.4(B) for at least ten months of operations during the present tax year.
(Code 1993, § 27-504; Code 2004, § 98-1006; Code 2015, § 26-1276; Code 2020, § 26-1261; Ord. No. 2010-36-42, § 1, 2-22-2010)
