Score another small victory for the online travel agencies in the hotel-tax skirmishes: In a majority opinion, the Philadelphia County Tax Review Board upheld Expedia’s petition and dismissed the city’s hotel-tax assessment.
The board stated that the basis of its decision was that Expedia does not fall within the law’s “definition of [an] operator.”
Occupancy tax laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and the crux of the issue revolves around whether the OTAs can be considered hotel operators. The Philadelphia County Tax Review Board held that Expedia is not a hotel operator under local law.
The city has 30 days from the Feb. 9 decision to appeal it to the Court of Common pleas.
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