Occupancy Tax FAQ

If you rent out your home or vacation property the State of North Carolina and Graham County law requires you to collect occupancy tax from your guests. Exemptions apply only under the following circumstances:

• A privately owned residence or property is being rented for less than 15 days per year
• A rental to the same person of more than 90 consecutive days
• Rentals to schools or camps that charge tuition or fees for enrollment

Occupancy tax is in addition to state and local sales tax and is based on gross room sales.

The forms to register your property can be obtained from the GCT&T office located at 474 Rodney Orr Bypass. Contact the office at 828-479-3790 or at info@grahamcountytravel.com to request forms by mail or email.

Upon registration you will receive copies of the Monthly Occupancy Tax Report forms along with instructions on how to remit the occupancy tax monies that you collect. Occupancy Tax reports may be downloaded above or picked up from the GCTT office or at the Graham County Finance Office at 196 Knight Street.

• Failing to register, file and pay the occupancy tax will result in penalties, which mirror NC sales and use tax as stated in General Statute 105-236, including:
• In case of failure to file any return on the date it is due, a penalty equal to 5% of the amount of tax will be assessed if the failure is for not more than one month, with additional 5% for each addition month, or fraction thereof, during which the failure continues, not exceeding 25% in the aggregate or $5.00 whichever is greater.
• In the case of failure to pay any tax when due, a penalty equal to 10% of the tax will be assessed, except the penalty shall in no event be less than $5.00.
• Any person who willfully fails to pay the tax, make the return, keep records, or supply the required information shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• Further, any person who willfully attempts to evade or defeat a tax or its payment, shall be guilty of a Class H felony.
• The Graham County Finance Office may direct that the financial records of accommodations be audited.

Occupancy Tax remittance and forms must be delivered in person or postmarked on or before the 20th of every month for the previous month of sales. For example, Occupancy Tax for the month of April (1 – 30) is due on or before May 20. If the 20th falls on a weekend, the due date will be the following Monday.

If the due date falls on a legal holiday, the return and payment are due on the following business day.

The tax paid by visitors helps fund advertising and promotion of Graham County to potential travelers. With the collection of occupancy taxes GCT&T is able to position the county as a premier tourist destination and bring you more business.

• The tax is not paid by accommodations – they are simply a pass-through for visitors who remit the tax.
• A tax report must be filed for each calendar month.
• If you owe no tax for the month, file the report and show “no tax due.”
• You may submit tax reports (showing “no tax due”) for each month you will be closed in advance of being closed for an extended period of time.
• Return the report with your check, made payable to Graham County.
• Mail your reports to the Graham County Finance Office, 12 N. Main St, Robbinsville, NC 28771.

Payments are accepted in the form of check or money order physically delivered or mailed to the Graham County Finance Department. Cash and credit or debit payments arev not accepted in person.

Can I pay Online?
Not at this time.

Please contact the NC Department of Revenue at 1-877-252-3052 or www.dornc.com.

You should set up an account to remit. If the total days rented for the year are less than 15 or if an individual guest stays longer than 89 consecutive days, then you may seek a refund from the Graham County Finance Office.

Yes. If a property owner rents out an accommodation for 15 or more days per year, then that owner should be collecting occupancy taxes from the tenants and remitting that tax to the Graham County Finance Office.

AirBnB and VRBO collect and remit taxes on your behalf, but you are still responsible for filing a monthly occupancy tax report. If you utilize another service, you are responsible for ensuring that they remit taxes on your behalf or manage the collection and remittance yourself.

No. The tax covers only the rental of “accommodations,” defined by North Carolina statute as “a hotel room, a motel room, a residence, a cottage or similar lodging facility.” This definition suggests the rental must provide some type of structure in which the renter may lodge for the night.

Basic campsites, RV sites, and boat slips do not provide lodging structures as part of the rental, so the tax should not apply. The tax would apply to the rental of a campsite that included a tent or other lodging structure or to the rental of a houseboat.

Yes.

With many extended rentals the full length of the rental period may not be known until after the rental ends, in which case a refund may need to be provided.

Consider a family that rents a vacation home for two fall months, September and October. The owner of that property must collect and remit taxes on that rental. If the family decides to extend the rental through November that rental would now be greater than 89 consecutive days. The property owner would not need to collect taxes for the November rent and may seek a refund of the taxes paid on the rental for September and October.

The refund check should be sent to the property owner, who should then return it to the tenant. However, it is not the responsibility of the Graham County Finance Office to ensure the refund to the tenant; that would be a private dispute in which the taxing authority would not be involved.