The Municipal Accommodation Tax is a 4% fee imposed on the cost of transient accommodations lasting less than 30 days.
The MAT must be collected beginning February 1, 2019.
On December 18, 2018 City of North Bay Council approved By-Law 2018-84, which provides for mandatory collection and remittance of the Municipal Accommodation Tax. The municipality is authorized per Section 400.1 of the Municipal Act and Ontario Regulation 435/17 to establish and to collect the MAT.
The tax will generate funding to promote tourism within the City of North Bay. 60% of the net MAT revenue will go to an eligible tourism entity with a focus on attracting more visitors through sports and cultural events, and promoting tourism including product development. City Council designated Tourism North Bay as the eligible tourism entity to receive and spend these funds.
The remaining 40% of the net revenue will be transferred to a reserve fund to be applied to various infrastructure investments which support tourism assets and make North Bay a memorable destination as directed by Council.
Costs incurred by the municipality directly related to the administration and collection of the MAT are recoverable. Best practices recommend that costs for staffing, development of forms, systems, information technology cost, banking/point of sale fees, audit or third party costs including legal and collection agency costs to collect funds owing would be included in the costs recovered prior to revenue sharing.