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 commercial hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin, university memorial union, or university residence hall, except state camping facilities, located in the county. The county council may impose the tax at a rate not to exceed eight percent (8%) on the gross income derived from lodging income only. The tax is in addition to the state gross retail tax imposed on those persons by IC 6-2.5. The tax does not apply to a retail transaction in which a student rents lodging in a university memorial union or residence hall while that student participates in a course of study for which the student receives college credit from a state university located in the county.

     (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 income” shall have the same meaning in this section as they have in IC 6-2.5, except that “person” shall not include supported educational institutions. 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 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 1980, P.L.65, SEC.1. Amended by P.L.19-1986, SEC.26; P.L.108-1987, SEC.12; P.L.85-1995, SEC.36; P.L.67-1997, SEC.13; P.L.41-1999, SEC.1; P.L.293-2013(ts), SEC.36; P.L.175-2018, SEC.12; P.L.9-2024, SEC.229.