Wayne, NJ Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Article II of Chapter 94 implements N.J.S.A. 40:48F-1 et seq., which authorizes a municipal governing body to adopt a hotel occupancy tax. Section 94-15 fixes the rate at a uniform 3% on charges of rent for every occupancy of a hotel or motel room in the Township of Wayne on or after July 1, 2004, for rooms in a hotel subject to taxation under Subsection (d) of N.J.S.A. 54:32B-3, which the section labels the sales tax. It adds that an ordinance can require unpaid taxes to carry interest at the rate of 5% per annum.

Section 94-16 makes the tax additional to any other tax or fee imposed by any governmental entity on the occupancy of a hotel room. Under Section 94-17 the purchaser pays the tax, a vendor cannot assume or absorb it, and a vendor cannot advertise or hold out that the tax will be absorbed, not separately stated, or refunded. Section 94-18 requires the person collecting the rent to collect the tax on behalf of the Township. That person is personally liable for the tax collected or required to be collected, and the Chief Financial Officer of the Township is joined as a party in any collection action.

The chapter measures rent broadly: all receipts, cash, credits and property and service of any kind, without reduction. Section 94-19 requires the Township to give the State Treasurer, by January 1 each year, the names and addresses of all hotels and motels in Wayne Township, plus any that open later. A guest counts as a transient occupant up to the 31st day of occupancy. On short-term rentals, the tax text covers hotel and motel rooms only, and Section 94-23 separately makes receiving consideration for the rental of a dwelling unit for 29 days or less unlawful while exempting lawfully operating hotels and motels.