As a result of concern on the part of municipalities, the Division of Taxation has assembled a list of the possible reasons for discrepancies in local distribution. Some of the local shortcomings result from one or more of the following which may be under the control of the State of New Jersey:

1. One or more hotels may have failed to file the proper return or have made the proper return too late for inclusion in a timely distribution.



2. One or more hotels may have failed to pay all of or a portion of the tax reported and due.



3. Information submitted on the return may be incorrect; for example, the ID number may have transposed digits or the name may differ from the Division of Taxation's records.



4. One or more hotels may have made an arithmetic error on the tax return; for example, the amount to be distributed may differ from correctly calculated amount.



5. United States Postal Service may have misplaced the return.



6. State of New Jersey may have misplaced the return.



7. State of New Jersey may have made a processing error for one or more hotels.



8. One or more hotels may have made the payment either as a check or as an electronic payment with another tax (Sales Tax owed $7,200; Hotel Tax owed $4,100; they send a check made out to Sales Tax for $11,300).



9. Hotel/Motel list submitted by the municipality improperly included an entity that is not technically a hotel/motel for tax purposes or is unregistered with Taxation.

It is important to note that some of the reasons for a local discrepancy are not under the control of the State, these may include:

1. Incorrect estimations were calculated on the tax to be paid by the hotel; for example, an estimate based on an over- or under-stated occupancy rate, incorrect historical data used in estimating annual or periodic cycles, under a contract of greater than 90 days, and/or improper room rate or tariff data.



2. Municipal budget over-anticipated the potential revenue available for distribution to the municipality from this source.

Be assured that the Division of Taxation will continue to improve on the distribution of these moneys to the municipalities that have enacted a local ordinance.