Excise on Meals
SECTION 60.
The General Laws are hereby amended by inserting after chapter 64K the following chapter:-
CHAPTER 64L.
LOCAL OPTION MEALS EXCISE
Section 1. As used in this chapter, the following words shall have the meaning assigned to them in paragraph (h) of section 6 of chapter 64H: "honor snack tray'', "meals'' and "restaurant''.
"Commissioner", the commissioner of revenue.
"Sale", a sale of meals by a restaurant for any purpose other than resale in the regular course of business.
"Vendor", shall have the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of chapter 64H.
Section 2. (a) A city or town which accepts this section in the manner provided in section 4 of chapter 4 may impose a local sales tax upon the sale of restaurant meals originating within the city or town by a vendor at a rate of .75 per cent of the gross receipts of the vendor from the sale of restaurant meals. No excise shall be imposed if the sale is exempt under section 6 of chapter 64H. The vendor shall pay the local sales tax imposed under this section to the commissioner at the same time and in the same manner as the sales tax due to the commonwealth.
(b) All sums received by the commissioner under this section shall, at least quarterly, be distributed, credited and paid by the state treasurer upon certification of the commissioner to each city or town that has accepted this section in proportion to the amount of the sums received from the sales of restaurant meals in that city or town. Any city or town seeking to dispute the commissioner's calculation of its distribution under this subsection shall notify the commissioner, in writing, not later than 1 year from the date the tax was distributed by the commissioner to the city or town.
(c) This section shall take effect in a municipality on the first day of the calendar quarter following 30 days after its acceptance by the municipality or on the first day of a later calendar quarter that the city or town may designate.
(d) Notwithstanding any provisions in section 21 of chapter 62C to the contrary, the commissioner may make available to cities and towns any information necessary for administration of the excise imposed by this section including, but not limited to, a report of the amount of local option sales tax on restaurant meals collected in the aggregate by each city or town under this section in the preceding fiscal year, and the identification of each individual vendor collecting local option sales tax on restaurant meals collected under this chapter.
Section 3. Except as provided herein, a sale of a meal by a restaurant is sourced to the business location of the vendor if (1) the meal is received by the purchaser at the business location of the vendor or (2) if the meal is delivered by the vendor to a customer, regardless of the location of the customer. A vendor with multiple business locations in the commonwealth must separately report sales sourced to each location in a manner prescribed by the commissioner. Restaurant meal delivery companies that purchase meals for resale must source their sales to the delivery location indicated by instructions for delivery to the purchaser and shall separately report sales by municipality in a manner prescribed by the commissioner. The commissioner may also adopt by rule or regulation destination sourcing and reporting rules for caterers or other vendors with a high volume of delivered meals, as the commissioner may determine, in order to mitigate any anti-competitive impact of the local meals tax.
Section 4. Reimbursement for the tax imposed by this chapter shall be paid by the purchaser to the vendor, and each vendor in the commonwealth shall add to the sales price and shall collect from the purchaser the full amount of the tax imposed by this chapter and such tax shall be a debt from the purchaser to the vendor, when so added to the sales price, and shall be recoverable at law in the same manner as other debts.
Section 5. Upon each sale of a meal by a restaurant taxable under this chapter, the amount of tax collected by the vendor from the purchaser shall be stated and charged separately from the sales price and shown separately on any record thereof at the time the sale is made or on any evidence of sale issued or used by the vendor, but in the instance of the sale of alcoholic beverages for on premises consumption, the tax collected need not be stated separately.
Section 6. Every person who fails to pay to the commissioner any sums required by this chapter shall be personally and individually liable therefor to the commonwealth. The term "person", as used in this section, includes an officer or employee of a corporation, or a member or employee of a partnership or limited liability company, who as an officer, employee or member is under a duty to pay over the taxes imposed by this chapter.