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An Act To Require Room Remarketers and Operators of Transient Rental Platforms To Be Registered for the Collection and Reporting of Sales Taxes
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  36 MRSA §1752, sub-§11-B  is enacted to read:
 
11-B.  Room remarketer.     "Room remarketer" means a person who reserves, arranges for, offers, furnishes or collects or receives consideration for the rental of living quarters in this State, whether directly or indirectly, pursuant to a written or other agreement with the owner, manager or operator of a hotel, rooming house or tourist or trailer camp.
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §1752, sub-§14, ¶A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 627, §43, is further amended to read:
 
A. "Sale price" includes:
 
(1) Any consideration for services that are a part of a retail sale; and
 
(2) All receipts, cash, credits and property of any kind or nature and any amount for which credit is allowed by the seller to the purchaser, without any deduction on account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of the materials used, labor or service cost, interest paid, losses or any other expenses.; and
 
(3) All consideration received for the rental of living quarters in this State, including any service charge or other charge or amount required to be paid as a condition for occupancy, valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise and whether received by the owner, occupant, manager or operator of the living quarters, by a room remarketer, by a person that operates a transient rental platform or by another person on behalf of any of those persons.
Sec. 3.  36 MRSA §1752, sub-§20-C  is enacted to read:
 
20-C.  Transient rental platform.     "Transient rental platform" means an electronic or other system, including an Internet-based system, that allows the owner or occupant of living quarters in this State to offer the living quarters for rental and that provides a mechanism by which a person may arrange for the rental of the living quarters in exchange for payment to either the owner or occupant, to the operator of the system or to another person on behalf of the owner, occupant or operator.
Sec. 4. 36 MRSA §1754-B, sub-§1, ¶F, as amended by PL 2005, c. 218, §19, is further amended to read:
 
F. Every person that manages or operates in the regular course of business or on a casual basis a hotel, rooming house or tourist or trailer camp in this State or that collects or receives rents fromon behalf of a hotel, rooming house or tourist or trailer camp in this State;
Sec. 5.  36 MRSA §1754-B, sub-§1, ¶¶F-1 and F-2  are enacted to read:
 
F-1.  Every person that operates a transient rental platform and reserves, arranges for, offers, furnishes or collects or receives consideration for the rental of living quarters in this State;
 
F-2.  Every room remarketer;
Sec. 6. Application. Those sections of this Act that enact the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 36, section 1752, subsections 11-B and 20-C and Title 36, section 1754-B, subsection 1, paragraphs F-1 and F-2 and that amend Title 36, section 1752, subsection 14, paragraph A apply to sales occurring on or after October 1, 2018.
 
SUMMARY
This bill expands the provision for sellers required to register to collect and report sales taxes to include online real property rental platforms. The bill adds definitions for "room remarketer" and "transient rental platform," and the definition for "sale price" is amended to include as consideration receipts by room remarketers and transient rental platform operators. The changes apply to sales occurring on or after October 1, 2018.