taxing certain occupants who have established permanent residences under the meals and rooms tax.
What changed between versions
The definition of 'permanent resident' in RSA 78-A:3 is changed from someone who has occupied a hotel room for at least 185 consecutive days to someone who made an agreement to occupy a hotel room for more than 30 consecutive days. This is the core policy shift.
A new section RSA 78-A:27 is created establishing three rules: (1) permanent resident status is determined at the start of occupancy and does not arise retroactively even if the stay is extended, (2) when a taxable occupancy extends beyond 30 days only the first 30 days are taxable, and (3) if a permanent resident's occupancy is shortened to 30 days or fewer it becomes taxable again.
The introduced version's amendments to the definitions of 'Hotel,' 'Occupancy,' 'Occupant,' 'Operator,' and 'Short-term rental' are all removed. The amended bill no longer touches those terms.
An applicability provision is added stating the act applies to all taxable periods ending on or after January 1, 2027.
The fiscal note indicates an indeterminable decrease in state and local meals and rooms tax revenue starting in FY 2027-2028, because stays between 30 and 185 days are removed from the taxable base. The Department of Revenue cannot estimate the exact loss because it does not collect data on the length of occupant stays.
