The NJ Shore Rentals Coalition wanted to put out an update on the progress of the correction to the Transient Occupancy Tax. The Coalition has been talking with legislative staff and been getting excellent feedback. One of the most common things we are hearing is that this legislation is moving “at lightning speed”. While it may not feel like we are getting anywhere, compared to most legislation, this is going at a record pace. The reason this is happening is because of your emails and phone calls to your legislators as well as your appearances at Town Hall meetings. Staff members have told us that the volume of calls and emails is what has pushed this legislation forward. So thank you for your support and please continue to reach out to your representatives when we post a “call to action”. You are having an impact!
As far as where the legislation stands currently, the legislature is not officially meeting in April as they are on “budget break” until the beginning of May. That is not to say that nothing is happening, there are just not scheduled committee meetings and voting sessions until then. The corrective legislation that The Coalition is supporting has been re-written and has met the approval of Assembly Speaker Coughlin. That revised language is currently being reviewed by the Governor’s staff and awaiting their “pre-approval”. The next step in the journey is committee approvals in both Senate and Assembly. That could come as early as the beginning of May. Both Senate and Assembly would need to then move the bills to budget committees for approval before hitting the floor for a full vote on each side. The earliest this could possibly happen would be the end of May. That is a long shot, but we will continue to push to get this legislation approved by both Senate and Assembly before Memorial Day. Then it would be on to the Governor’s desk for his signature. Senate President Sweeney has already publicly stated his support to get this done before Summer and The Coalition hopes to hold him to that! While Memorial Day may be our goal, and a challenging one at that, we are being told that legislators are confident this will be done before July 1st. So keep your fingers crossed and stay tuned for updates as this legislation moves forward.
Thank you again for all of your support, The NJ Shore Rentals Coalition
PLEASE keep checking our home page for the latest call to action.
Does anyone know what to do about the first tax payment due April 20th for the first quarter? Also, is the tax payment due when we receive our first deposit or when the renter pays in full? It took us forever to contact someone at the Division of Taxation for the forms to print….this is such an inconvenience let alone so much extra work for the owners!
Thanks for any information you can provide….
Thank you for your efforts in correcting this tax. This is already having a negative affect on rentals for the summer.
I appreciate the efforts of this coalition. As a renter this directly affects my family. Fingers crossed it is resolved and saves my 50th anniversary family vacation.
NJSRC: Great job on keeping up the pressure to correct this legislation. Has anyone in the know stated what the language of the new bill does? Eliminate the 11.625 tax on “Mom and Pop” rentals? Only those sourced thru ABNB, VRBO etc. ? Many properties are rented thru those sites. I hope that what is new is not just the old re-packaged. We will see. Thanks again.
I hope the legislators understand that many of the renters who use VRBO do not understand this tax. They think NJ got expensive, not that they should search for a local real estate representative. They move on down to the Delaware and NC shores instead of booking the Jersey Shore. Many of us rely on the renters to make mortgage payments. Business is definitely down with prime weeks still open. Last year at this time we were completely booked for weeks. I hope this correction includes VRBO etc otherwise it is fairly useless to the majority of owners and travelers.
This tax is really annoying on a couple of levels. To get the rentals, homeowners will have to drop the rent rate which means less income tax. So other than a sop to hotels (that shore rentals are not in competition with) who is gaining? Not the state, not the restaurants and stores that count on a robust summer crowd, not the tourists who will take their money elsewhere. The law was just an ill considered favor to the hotel lobbyists and should be repealed not “fixed”.
We keep calling Senator Bob Andrzejczak’s office and can’t ever seem to talk directly to him. His staff keeps repeating that the people up north are not in favor of a repeal. Since Senator Andrzejczak is in District 1, everyone is “up north.”
We need to have the tax repealed, including ABNB, VRBO and personal rentals and need the senator on board with repealing the tax.
Thank you for keeping the pressure going.