Sec. 6. (a) The county council may levy a tax on every person engaged in the business of renting or furnishing, for periods of less than thirty (30) days, any room or rooms, lodgings or accommodations in any hotel, motel, inn, conference center, retreat center, or tourist cabin located in the county. However, the county council may not levy the tax on a person for engaging in the business of providing campsites within a state or federal park or forest. The tax may be imposed at any rate up to and including five percent (5%). The tax shall be imposed on the gross retail income derived from lodging income only and shall be in addition to the state gross retail tax imposed on those persons by IC 6-2.5.

     (b) The county fiscal body may adopt an ordinance to require that the tax shall be paid monthly to the county treasurer. If such an ordinance is adopted, the tax shall be paid to the county treasurer not more than twenty (20) days after the end of the month the tax is collected. If such an ordinance is not adopted, the tax shall be imposed, paid and collected in exactly the same manner as the state gross retail tax is imposed, paid, and collected pursuant to IC 6-2.5.

     (c) All of the provisions of IC 6-2.5 relating to rights, duties, liabilities, procedures, penalties, definitions, exemptions, and administration apply to the imposition and administration of the tax imposed under this section, except to the extent those provisions are in conflict or inconsistent with the specific provisions of this chapter or the requirements of the county treasurer. Specifically and not in limitation of the foregoing sentence, the terms “person” and “gross retail income” shall have the same meaning in this section as they have in IC 6-2.5. If the tax is paid to the department of state revenue, the returns to be filed for the payment of the tax under this section may be either a separate return or may be combined with the return filed for the payment of the state gross retail tax as the department of state revenue may, by rule or regulation, determine.

     (d) If the tax is paid to the department of state revenue, the amounts received from the tax shall be paid quarterly by the treasurer of state to the county treasurer upon warrants issued by the state comptroller.

     (e) The tax imposed under subsection (a) does not apply to the renting or furnishing of rooms, lodgings, or accommodations to a person for a period of thirty (30) days or more.

As added by Acts 1981, P.L.100, SEC.1. Amended by P.L.108-1987, SEC.13; P.L.62-1990, SEC.5; P.L.85-1995, SEC.35; P.L.67-1997, SEC.14; P.L.175-2018, SEC.13; P.L.9-2024, SEC.232.