19 Mar 2015

Hotel tax proposed for American Samoa

7:40 pm on 19 March 2015

The American Samoa government is proposing a hotel occupancy tax.

A bill just submitted to the Fono would put a five percent tax on the daily room rate.

The bill sets out deadlines to submit quarterly reports and for the tax to be paid to the Treasury.

If the hotel owner fails to make a payment on time, or violates any provision of the proposed law, they must pay the due amount plus 20 percent and interest.

The government intends allocating much of the tax raised to the Port Authority, for improvements at Pago Pago International Airport.,

Permanent residents would be exempt from paying the new tax.