HAR § 18-237D-4-01 — Certificate of registration

(a) Each operator or plan manager shall indicate, on its application for registration, the type of entity it is. If the transient accommodation is operated by a married couple or civil union partners, the married couple or civil union partners, may jointly file one individual registration. The registration shall include the name and address of the operator or plan manager and of each place of business subject to this chapter. An operator who acquires an additional transient accommodation or sells, transfers, assigns, or gives away a transient accommodation during the taxable year shall file an amended application for registration containing an updated list of each place of business subject to this chapter before the end of the taxable year or within thirty days of the acquisition or giveaway, whichever is later. (b) There shall be no additional registration fees due if the operator or plan manager subsequent to its initial registration adds more units to its registration, nor shall there be a refund if the number of units is reduced. Upon receipt of the required payment, the director shall issue a certificate of registration. (c) Any cancellation of a registration shall be without any refund of the registration fee paid. Example 1. Hotel Corporation, engaged in furnishing transient accommodations in Hawaii, owns and operates a hotel. The hotel has six rooms that are rented to transients. Hotel Corporation shall register its name and address and the business name (if any) and address of the hotel with the department and shall pay a one-time fee of $15 for the registration. Example 2. Mr. Peters owns a single apartment unit he furnishes as a transient accommodation. Mr. Peters shall register with the department by providing his name and address, and the business name (if any) and address of the apartment. Mr. Peters shall pay a one-time fee of $5 for the registration. Example 3. Property Corporation, a firm engaged in the property management business, manages a condominium apartment building consisting of fifty apartments. Each of the apartments in the building is owned by a different investor who rents the premises on a short-term basis. Although some of the apartments are occasionally rented on a long-term basis, Property Corporation obtains the consent of all the investors, files, and pays the sum of $250 for fifty certificates of registration on behalf of the investors. Property Corporation has determined that this procedure greatly facilitates its activity. Within two months of operation, the climate of the rental market suddenly changes to a point that all of the investors request Property Corporation to change the mode of renting the apartments from a short-term rental to a long-term lease basis. Property Corporation in turn requests the department in writing to cancel all the certificates of registration in force. Neither Property Corporation nor any of the investors is entitled to a refund of any part of the $250 in registration fees paid. Furthermore, Property Corporation shall prepare and submit an annual tax return summarizing the two months of transient accommodations activity for each of the fifty condominium apartments. Although Property Corporation must file fifty annual tax returns, payment of taxes on the fifty units may be made with a single check enclosed in the same envelope with the fifty returns. Example 4. The individual owners of Tropical Condominium Apartments (consisting of one hundred units) and Renter Corporation enter into a contract. According to the contract, Renter Corporation leases the entire building from the owners of Tropical Condominium Apartments to operate the apartments as transient accommodations. In this situation, Renter Corporation is deemed the operator. Renter Corporation shall register its name and address and its business name (if any) and address of the condominium apartments with the department. Renter Corporation shall pay a $15 one-time fee for a single registration covering the one hundred-unit apartment. As operator of the transient accommodations, Renter Corporation shall be liable for the tax imposed under this chapter and the general excise tax imposed under chapter 237, HRS, on the gross rental and gross income, respectively, derived from the transient accommodations and apartment rental activities, respectively. The owners of the individual units in Tropical Condominium Apartments are separately liable for the general excise tax imposed under chapter 237, HRS, on the gross income or gross receipts derived from the activity of leasing the apartment units to Renter Corporation. Example 5. ABC, Inc. operates several facilities. On Oahu, ABC operates two hotels in Waikiki; a condominium apartment that is operated as a hotel; and a fifty-unit apartment facility in HRS §237D-4 §18-237D-4-03 237D- 15 (Unofficial Compilation as of 12/31/2025) Punaluu, of which some of the units are rented for less than one hundred eighty consecutive days and other units for periods of over one hundred eighty consecutive days. ABC also operates a hotel on the island of Hawaii, a condominium operated as a hotel on the island of Maui, and three hotels on the island of Kauai. ABC, Inc. shall register with the department and shall list the names and addresses of each of the hotels or condominium apartments and identify all of the specific rooms or apartments that are transient accommodations. Regarding the fifty-unit apartment located in Punaluu, ABC must give the name and address of the apartment building and identify the units that are customarily occupied by and regularly furnished to transients for consideration. If ABC owns apartment numbers 1 to 25 and 35 to 50, ABC will indicate the numbers 1 to 25 and 35 to 50 on the registration form. ABC does not have to enumerate each apartment number such as 1, 2, 3, etc. Example 6. Assume the same facts as Example 5, except that after complying with all requirements for registration, ABC, Inc. begins operating units 30-34 in the Punaluu apartment building as transient accommodations. ABC, Inc. also purchases a hotel on Kauai and begins operating it as a transient accommodation. ABC, Inc. must update its registration with the department to indicate that it is operating apartment numbers 1 to 25 and 30 to 50 of the Punaluu apartment building and also to indicate that it is operating the new hotel on Kauai before the end of the taxable year or within thirty days of the acquisition, whichever is later.