Hawaii & Kauai County 2019 Tax Increases
For those that may not have heard, the State of Hawaii released two taxation announcements on September 27, 2018. One of these announcements – Department of Taxation Announcement No. 2018-14 – pertains to Kauai County; the other – Department of Taxation Announcement No. 2018-15 – pertains to Hawaii County. The result is a county surcharge being added to the General Excise Tax (GET) and Rate of Tax being passed on to consumers beginning January 01, 2019. Proceeds from the new country surcharges are to be used for transportation and highway infrastructure. Kauai County and Hawaii County rate changes are a little different from each other, so we wanted to share with all our customers and ohana.
In late 2017, Ordinance No. 1021 was enacted in Kauai County that authorized a county surcharge (CS) on the GET of 0.50%. Ordinance No. 1021 begins on January 01, 2019 and ends on December 31, 2030. The total GET and CS for Kauai County beginning in 2019 is 4.7120% (see Table 1.).
Table 1. County Surcharge and General Excise Tax Rates
COUNTY SURCHARGE AND GENERAL EXCISE TAX RATES
COUNTY COUNTRY SURCHARGE TAX RATE STATE GENERAL EXCISE TAX RATE
MAX PASS-ON TAX RATE
EFFECTIVE DATES
Honolulu 0.50% 4.0% 4.7120% January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2030
Kauai 0.50% 4.0% 4.7120% January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2030
Hawaii 0.25% 4.0% 4.4386% January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020
Maui 0.00% 4.0% 4.1666% No county surcharge
For Hawaii County, the CS imposed is .25%, which makes the total GET and CS 4.4386%. The new GET and CS rates begin for Hawaii County on January 01, 2019 as well, but they expire on December 31, 2020.
What all this means to our customers is that if we provided you service in 2018, your billing will maintain the 2018 tax rates for your specific county. Any services provided January 01, 2019 and thereafter will include the 2019 tax rates for the counties where services were provided. If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call.
References:
http://files.hawaii.gov/tax/news/announce/ann18-14.pdf
http://files.hawaii.gov/tax/news/announce/ann18-15.pdf
http://tax.hawaii.gov/geninfo/countysurcharge/
