Debbie Jackson promised Fannin County commissioners new software will help find the owners of short term rentals who are not paying taxes and streamline the operations in her office.
Jackson, the county’s Lodging Tax administrator, presented a proposal to commissioners at their January 9 meeting.
As a result, commissioners agreed to spend $167,342.99 the first year and $164,342.99 in each of the following four years for the software from GovOS.
“It’s an investment when it’s all said and done,” Commission Chairman Jamie Hensley said after the unanimous board decision to purchase the software.
Jackson began her presentation by telling commissioners, “We keep growing by leaps and bounds in the number of lodging properties we have.”
The new software will enable the owners of those properties to register online, renew certificates, and pay lodging taxes online.
More importantly, “We’re going to find a lot of people who are out there renting who are not currently registered,” Jackson said.
The software searches all rental applications and platforms. When someone is found to not be registered with the county, that person will be reported to the county. Jackson can then begin the process to make sure the proper taxes are collected on the short term rental.
Jackson pointed specifically to the problems with collecting taxes from Airbnb and VRBO rentals. The new system will fix the problem because it requires owners to go online and report monthly earnings.
“The word is out that we’re looking at this,” Jackson said. Her office is receiving new short term rental registrations daily.
Since the new system will track rentals by parcel numbers, Jackson said it will also stop Fannin County tax money from going to Union and Gilmer counties.
She said the money is already available to pay for the software from the registration fee hike previously approved by the commissioners.
The system will be designed specifically for Fannin County and is expected to go into operation July 1.
Hensley said that by agreeing to a five-year agreement GovOs had reduced its initial annual offer for the software from $196,873, an annual savings of $32,530.