The Montgomery County Commissioners “approved an ordinance amendment at their meeting [yesterday]…regarding collection and remittance of the hotel tax,” stated Mr. John Corcoran, Director of Communications for Montgomery County.  “It requires online platforms (Airbnb, Travelocity, etc.) to collect and remit the tax in accordance with Act 109, which the state amended in late 2018.”

Act 109 is a piece of legislation passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on October 24, 2018.  This law updated and included additions to existing law that related to hotel occupancy taxes. You can view Act 109 by clicking here.

Ms. Liz DeBold Fusco, Northeast Press Secretary for Airbnb, released a statement today confirming that “Airbnb is taking steps to ensure compliance with Act 109 and its various pieces.”

Prior to the Montgomery County Commissioners amending the local hotel occupancy tax ordinance yesterday, this tax assessed by Montgomery County was not being collected from a number of visitors to the County.  This was specifically the case with many private individuals and businesses that were renting rooms on a temporary basis through online platforms like Airbnb.

Details on how Montgomery County has not been receiving tax revenue for years from visitors using platforms such as Airbnb were detailed in an earlier series of The Tookany Valley Chronicles in Glenside Local.  You can view the summary of these previous news columns by clicking here.