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Commission increases lodgers‑tax audit sample to 18 amid compliance concerns with short‑term rental reporting
Summary
Commissioners voted to raise the lodgers‑tax vendor audit sample to 18 (about 20% of vendors) after staff described inconsistent third‑party reporting, gaps in contact information and plans to issue an RFP for an integrated payment/licensing vendor to improve compliance.
Santa Fe County commissioners voted Jan. 27 to increase the sample size for the fiscal year 2025 lodgers‑occupancy tax vendor audit to 18 vendors, following a detailed staff briefing on enforcement challenges for short‑term rental (STR) reporting.
Finance Director Yvonne Herrera told the board the county historically audits roughly 20% of registered lodging vendors. Staff reported about 90 registered vendors filed at least one return during the fiscal year, but only 40–50 report consistently. The county is seeing sporadic filings, incomplete contact information and significant reliance on third‑party platforms that aggregate payments and reports.
Director Ladd described efforts to better “weave together” licensing, payment and reporting systems and said staff will pursue an RFP later in the spring to obtain a vendor able to integrate payments with licensing and produce per‑entity reporting. Code enforcement supervisor Joseph Martinez said staff are building a data set to identify which licensed properties are not reporting and to focus outreach and enforcement.
Commissioners pressed staff to include both consistently reporting vendors and those who filed only sporadically in the sample to better understand under‑reporting; Commissioner Johnson proposed the larger 18‑vendor sample (roughly 20% of the reported population) and moved to adopt it. The motion passed unanimously.
Staff said ongoing compliance work will include education campaigns for STR owners, outreach to third‑party platforms to request per‑entity reporting (rather than aggregate figures), and better cross‑department data sharing so licensing, code enforcement and finance can identify non‑reporting entities.
What's next: staff will proceed with the 18‑vendor sample for the lodgers tax audit and continue work on technology integration, outreach and enforcement steps.
