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Before you rent your Door County property, please...
Health Inspectors Serving Door County
Green Bay/Northeastern Region Green Bay, WI 54301-5123 FAX: 920-448-5265 http://www.dor.state.wi.us/faqs/pcs/seller.html Business Tax Registration FAQ's: http://www.dor.state.wi.us/faqs/pcs/btr.html Department of Revenue publication addressing sales tax for lodging businesses: http://www.dor.state.wi.us/pubs/pb219.pdf
Any accommodation offered for less than 30 consecutive days within the Door County Tourism Zone are subject to a 5.5% Room Tax. Before you start renting your property, please contact the Door County Tourism Zone by calling (920)854-6200 or by e-mailing the commission at: DCTourismZoneCommission@gmail.com to obtain proper permits and instructions for the collection and reporting of room tax. There is no fee for registering your property.
Additional Room Tax information/applications/instructions/assistance are now posted online at: www.DoorCountyTourismZone.com
The following municipalities have joined the Door County Tourism Zone to promote Door County as a single premier travel destination:
PLEASE NOTE: The collection and reporting of Room Tax is mandated by law throughout Door County. 2007-08 Annual Report from the Door County Tourism Zone Commission Available HERE New Member information & applications for the Door County Visitor Bureau Door County Visitor Bureau Membership Information State information for Tourist Rooming Houses (Vacation Rentals/Transient Housing, etc.)
77.52
(2
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)1.
Take from Page 27 of the 2006 Murdaugh Plan
The number one resource for CVB funding throughout America is the hotel tax paid by travelers, which is regarded as a user fee by most communities.
Here in Wisconsin, it is the preferred funding source for destination marketing. The following chart tracks some Wisconsin CVBs who shared this information with the Door Chamber/VCB.
Wisconsin Destination Room Tax %
* These destinations receive room tax from multiple municipalities and the rate varies municipality by municipality.
Throughout America, The dedicated hotel tax now averages about 12.2 % wherever it is employed. And for communities with bureaus having budgets of $10 million dollars or more, the taxable rate then rises to an average of 14.2%.
The point is that consumers are not price sensitive to paying these taxes. Indeed, the positive use of dedicated taxes in Wisconsin to fuel tourism development is supported by a recent study produced by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Association. For more than three decades, Wisconsin cities, villages and towns have been collecting dedicated room taxes, and the study provides strong ammunition to conclude that Door County would substantially profit if it were to introduce such an initiative.
For background, the current sales tax on Door County rooms is just 5.5 %; 5% from the state and .5 from the County. Thus, if a countywide 6.7% hotel occupancy tax were implemented and paid by the traveler to Door (the state dedicated tax average is 6.85% for reporting competing Wisconsin destinations)—it would increase the total checkout rate to the national average rate of 12.2%.
The following scenario would allow Door County to mount an aggressive $2 million dollar- plus marketing campaign capable of producing higher volumes of visitation and resulting business receipts throughout the county. Here’s how it would work:
The recommended new 6.7% pass-through to the visitor would produce an estimated additional $1,846,000. for Door County marketing after 30% of the collections were allocated to community needs in accordance with the provisions of the dedicated tax plan now available in Wisconsin. This dedicated tax initiative would probably necessitate a substantial reduction in CVB membership dues from its accommodations partners by as much as 50% to $300,000 annually. But added to the new tax support of $1.846 million, the bureau would then be armed with an aggressive annual program budget of $2,146,000.
If countywide implementation is pursued, one issue to be resolved is how to partner effectively with Door County communities who will wish to be a recipient of this taxing effort. For example, the Sturgeon Bay VCB implemented its 4% hotel user fee in 1998, which now provides about 70% of the agency’s total $350,000 budget. We recommend that agreements be developed between the Chamber/VCB with local jurisdictions to forge an integrated partnership effort throughout the County. In Sturgeon Bay’s case, it seems reasonable that they should continue to receive this proportionate portion of room tax while merging marketing efforts with the Chamber VCB that make good marketing sense to both boards.
Note: Results are based on Chamber estimates of 3,919 available rooms during high season, the estimated year round occupancy of 40% or 571,955 room nights at an average daily room rate of $80, which would produce about $45,756,000 in hotel receipts, multiplied times the 6.7 % recommended pass- through visitor tax, delivering $3,065,000. About 30% of this amount is estimated for return to localities for infrastructure and event development. If you come across any other helpful links, please let me know. Phil phil@doorcounty.com
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