Transient Occupancy Tax Modernization Program

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

Over 5,000 short-term rental operators are registered within San Bernardino County, with Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) collections consisting of over 2,500 payments amounting to over $3 million quarterly. Previously, operators were required to print, fill out, and submit a paper application for TOT certification and a quarterly TOT tax return to the Tax Collector’s Office (ATC-TC) in person or via mail. ATC-TC staff reviewed quarterly tax returns, calculated the taxes due, collected payments, and manually maintained the TOT account records. In order to meet modern business needs, ATC-TC and the Information Technology Division (ATC-ITD) collaborated on developing the TOT Modernization Program, a new automated system aimed to digitally transform the manual TOT management process and streamline the collection and processing workflows associated with collecting these taxes. This program has successfully addressed the challenge to effectively manage and process the high volume of quarterly tax returns with limited staffing.