Expedia on hook for $4.6 million in owed S.C., Charleston-area hotel taxes

Image by Flickr user Jonathan Caves

With only one dissenting opinion, the South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that Administrative Law Court Judge Ralph Anderson was correct when he said online travel site Expedia.com was liable for $4.6 million in uncollected room taxes.

At the core of the case was whether or not Expedia was responsible to pay a 7% state tax on the gross proceeds of its online room sales or only what it paid the hotels for those rooms.

The Post and Courier's Allyson Byrd has already put together a concise rundown, so I'll point you over there for more.

You can read the court's full opinion online over here.

And don't forget that in a similar case, a myriad on online travel sites (including Expedia) were required to pay Charleston area municipalities $900,000 in owed hotel taxes back in December 2010.

Get more area hotel news on our topic page.

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