On December 1, 2017, the Province of Ontario enacted the Transient Accommodation Regulation 436/17, which provides the necessary provisions for municipalities across Ontario to implement a Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT).
City Council approved a mandatory MAT that took effect on January 1, 2019. Similar to many Ontario municipalities, the City of Barrie has a 4% Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) on accommodation for a continuous period of less than 30 nights provided by a hotel, motel or inn. The MAT is 4% tax payable for the purchase price of the room rental accommodation and all guest invoices will include a separate line identifying “Municipal Accommodation Tax”. If the business is an HST registrant, HST is also payable on the MAT portion. Meeting room rentals, food and beverage, room services, internet and phone charges are all excluded from the tax but must be itemized separately.
Tourism Barrie acts as the City’s “Tourism Entity” as defined in Regulation 435/17 and receives 50% of the MAT as outlined in the conditions of the legislation. Tourism Barrie also collects the MAT on behalf of the City of Barrie. All operators of properties subject to collecting the MAT must register with Tourism Barrie. The MAT fee collected must be remitted to Tourism Barrie within 30 days after the month’s end. Any late remittance will be charged a 1.25% interest rate per month for late charges. For a period of seven years, accommodation providers are required to retain all records and documents necessary to enable an accurate determination of the MAT.