Clifton, NJ Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Current tax rate
- 3% of room rent
- Rate before July 1, 2004
- 1%
- Who pays
- The purchaser/guest
- Who remits
- Person collecting the rent
- Penalty per offense
- $500
- Adopting authority
- P.L. 2003, c. 114
Summary
Clifton imposes a 3% hotel and motel room occupancy tax, paid by the guest and collected by whoever collects the rent. Vendors may never advertise that they'll absorb or refund the tax, and each violation costs $500.
§ 411-5. Establishment of tax. A. There is hereby established a hotel and motel room occupancy tax in the City of Clifton, which shall be fixed at a uniform percentage rate of 1% on charges of rent for every occupancy of a hotel or motel room in the City of Clifton on or after July 1, 2003, but before July 1, 2004, and 3% on charges of rent for every occupancy of a hotel or motel room in the City of Clifton on or after July 1, 2004... B. The hotel and motel room occupancy tax shall be in addition to any other tax or fee imposed pursuant to statute or local ordinance or resolution by any governmental entity upon the occupancy of a hotel room.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4963532; v64 updated 2026-07-21; through 07-21-2026).
Full Breakdown
A. 54:32B-3(d), the state sales-tax hotel provision. Section 411-5B makes the tax additive: it stacks on top of any other tax or fee any governmental entity imposes on hotel occupancy, including the state's own hotel/motel fee. L. 2003, c. 114 (§ 411-4), which authorizes municipalities to levy this local add-on tax. Section 411-6 spells out compliance duties: the purchaser, not the vendor, pays the tax (Subsection A); a vendor may not assume or absorb the tax itself (Subsection B); and a vendor may never advertise, directly or indirectly, that the tax will be assumed, absorbed, not separately stated, or refunded to the customer (Subsection C).
Section 411-7 makes the person who collects the room rent personally liable for collecting and remitting the tax, giving that collector the same right to collect the tax from the guest as if it were part of the rent itself, while requiring the City's Chief Financial Officer to be joined as a party in any action to collect an unpaid tax.
Violations & Fines
Each assumption or absorption of the tax by a vendor, and each day a prohibited representation or advertisement continues, is deemed a separate offense under § 411-6D. The penalty for violating the occupancy-tax provisions is $500 for each offense, per § 411-6E.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Clifton
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