By-Law M-400
Regional Council adopted By-law M-400, Respecting Marketing Levy in fall 2023 in response to the legislative amendments that were made by the Province of Nova Scotia in fall 2022. Amendments to Section 14 - addition of Sections 14A and 14B - were adopted in April 2024.
By-Law M-400 repealed By-law H-400, increases the hotel marketing levy from two percent to three percent and requires all accommodations registered under the Tourism Accommodations Registration Act to collect and remit a marketing levy of three percent to the Halifax Regional Municipality (began on October 1, 2023).
Effective September 1, 2024 the municipality has updated By-law M-400, Respecting Marketing Levy requiring platform operators to collect and remit the marketing levy on behalf of their operators (hosts and hotels).
The following table outlines whether platform operators will collect and remit the marketing levy on your behalf for bookings as of September 1, 2024 or October 1, 2024, if the accommodation is booked and paid for on the platform.
| Effective September 1 | Effective October 1 |
|---|---|
| Effective September 1 | Effective October 1 |
| AirBnB | Expedia |
| Misterb&b | Vrbo |
| Seabright Cottage Rentals | Booking.com |
| Please note: A marketing levy remittance form must be submitted for the month of September if your tourism accommodation is booked and paid for through these platforms. |
If your tourism accommodation is listed exclusively with the payment collected on an online platform, you do not need to fill out the linked form: Monthly Marketing Levy Remittance Report.
If your registered tourism accommodation is booked on both an online platform and/or directly through you (where you directly collect the payment from your guest), you will need to collect and remit the levy for the bookings where you directly collect the payment.
FAQs
Marketing Levy
- What is the marketing levy?
The marketing levy is designed to support the sustainable development of the tourism industry, including funding of events through the municipality’s Special Events Reserve Grant Program and to partially fund operations for the regional destination management organization, Discover Halifax. The marketing levy is enabled by provincial legislation and imposed through the municipal By-law M-400, Respecting Marketing Levy.
All tourism accommodations operating within the municipality are required to collect a marketing levy of three per cent of revenues per night, which is payable to the operator at the time of purchase of the room/unit and remitted monthly to the municipality.
- What is a tourist accommodation?
A tourist accommodation includes a roofed accommodation and provides short-term accommodations for 30 days in a row or less, including hotels.
Tourism accommodations booked solely on an online marketing platform
- What is an online marketing platform operator?
An online marketing platform operator is a website that books short-term rental units and collects the payment from the guest on behalf of the host. The payment is sent from the online marketing platform to the host. The guest does not directly pay the host for the stay. Examples of online marketing platforms include AirBnB, Vrbo, Misterb&b, Seabright Cottage Rentals, Expedia and Booking.com.
- Who needs to pay the marketing levy?
All online marketing platform operators booking rooms and collecting the payment on September 1, 2024 or later within the municipality are required to collect and remit a marketing levy of three per cent of revenues per night.
For example, if your accommodation costs $200 per night, plus a three per cent marketing levy ($6), plus 15 per cent HST ($30.90), the total cost to the guest would be $236.90 per night.
- For tourist accommodations sold on marketing platforms, will the platform do the remittance?
Yes, if the tourism accommodation is booked and paid for on the online marketing platforms AirBnb, Misterb&b.com and Seabright Cottage Rentals on September 1, 2024 or later, the online marketing platform operator will collect and remit the marketing levy to the municipality. If the tourism accommodation is booked and paid for on the online marketing platforms Vrbo, Expedia and Booking.com on October 1, 2024 or later, the online marketing platform operator will collect and remit the marketing levy to the municipality.
- When will the online marketing platform operator begin collecting and remitting the marketing levy to the municipality?
For a booking and payment on September 1, 2024 or later or October 1, 2024 or later (see question above), the online marketing platform operator will collect and remit the marketing levy to the municipality. If the booking and payment was made on AirBnB on August 29, 2024 and the stay is September 19, 2024, the operator (host) is responsible to collect and remit the marketing levy to the municipality.
Tourism accommodations booked only or partially with the property owner directly
- Who needs to pay the marketing levy?
All tourism accommodation operators within the municipality who sell accommodations only or partially to a guest directly and not on an online marketing platform are required to submit a marketing levy of three per cent of revenues per night to the municipality. The marketing levy is payable from the guest to the operator (host) at the time of purchase of the room/unit, if the payment is made directly from the guest to the operator.
For example, if your accommodation costs $200 per night, plus a three per cent marketing levy ($6), plus 15 per cent HST ($30.90), the total cost to the consumer would be $236.90 per night.
- Does a tourist accommodation property owner still need to submit a remittance if they haven't sold any rooms?
Yes, a Monthly Marketing Levy Remittance Report is required to be submitted even if no rooms have been sold during a month if the operator (host) is exclusively booking rooms without using an online marketing platform.
- How does a tourist accommodation property owner report their monthly marketing levy and remit the payment to the municipality?
The monthly marketing levy must be remitted to the municipality via the online Monthly Marketing Levy Remittance Report by the 15th of each month following the collection of a marketing levy.
The online Monthly Marketing Levy Remittance Report must be submitted even if none of the rooms have been sold and there is no marketing levy amount to remit unless the tourism accommodations are sold exclusively on an online marketing platform.
Payment can be remitted to the municipality via a cheque or electronic payment. Further instructions for payment are on the Municipal Payments web page.
- What happens if a tourist accommodation owner doesn’t remit the monthly remittance form?
The municipality will enforce monthly remittance; there will be a penalty of $25 per day imposed on non-remittance with interest charged on the amount of the marketing levy that was not remitted.
- On the remittance form there is an account number. How does a tourist accommodation owner get their account number?
Please contact 311 for an account number which is required on the remittance form.
- Will a tourist accommodation owner be charged interest on late payments?
Yes, interest will be charged on late payments as per Administrative Order 14, Respecting Application of Interest Charges on Outstanding Accounts.
Contact Information:
Phone: 311 or 1.800.835.6428
Email: contactus@311.halifax.ca
Fax: 902.490.4005