Resort Tax

About

The City of Whitefish has a 3% Resort Tax (Ordinance and City Code (PDF)) that is collected from Lodging, Retail, Bars and Restaurants.

The resort tax is authorized by Section 7-6-1501 MCA and was originally approved by Whitefish voters on November 7, 1995 by a 56% to 44% vote. The resort tax was approved for a 20 year term beginning January 1, 1996.

Extension

At the November 2, 2004 City election, the voters approved an extension of the resort tax until January 31, 2025 by a margin of 2012 to 632. Whitefish’s resort tax is a 3% tax on the retail sale of lodging, restaurant and prepared food, alcoholic beverages, ski resort goods and services, and defined luxury items. Whitefish voters allocated the use of the resort tax as follows:

• Bicycle paths and other park capital improvements in an amount equal to 5% of the resort tax revenues derived during the preceding fiscal year
• Cost of administering the resort tax in an amount equal to 5% per year.
• Property tax reduction for taxpayers residing in the city in an amount equal to 25%of the resort tax revenues derived during the preceding fiscal year;
• Provision for the repair and improvement of existing streets, storm sewers, all underground utilities, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, in an amount equal to 65% of resort tax revenues derived during the preceding fiscal year;

Committee

The Resort Tax Monitoring Committee, made up of 7 members, monitor, review and advise the Mayor and City Council on the use of resort tax funds.

Forms

• Resort Tax Transmittal Form (PDF)
• Resort Tax Transmittal Form-Fill-in-Form (PDF) - To use the fill-in form, download or save the file to your computer and use a pdf reader such as Adobe Acrobat to view and use the form.
• Typical Items of Temporary Vendors (PDF)

The payment and Resort Tax Transmittal Form can be turned into the Finance Department, Customer Service Clerk by the 20th day of the following month.