If your hotel is providing complimentary rooms to wildfire evacuees, please note:
TRA has previously issued a special notice addressing when the tourism levy applies in specific situations.
Pursuant to the Tourism Levy Act (the Act), the tourism levy applies to the purchase price of accommodation in Alberta. Accommodation means lodging that is provided for consideration (monetary or non-monetary). As provided under the Act, where the purchase price consists of lodging together with means, transportation, or other goods and services, the purchase price is the consideration that is, in TRA’s opinion, reasonably attributed to the lodging alone.
This special notice states that tourism levy will not be collected on complimentary accommodations, only if no consideration of any kind is received by the operator.
In the case of providing complimentary accommodations to fire evacuees, it would appear that no consideration would be received by the operator, therefore tourism levy would not have to be collected.
Please see the special notice for more details and examples, such as when complimentary accommodations are provided to a contractor, employee, family member, etc.