Section 280-RICR-20-70-51.9 - Rental of Public Rooms in a HotelA. Both sales and hotel tax apply only to living quarters as defined in § 51.5 of this Part within a hotel. The hotel is not required to charge tax on the rental of public rooms (i.e., assembly rooms, ballrooms, card rooms, etc.) for group meetings, display purposes, dances, or for similar events as long as the charges for such public rooms are separately stated, except in the following cases: 1. If a customer rents a room in conjunction with the serving of a meal (wedding, banquets, retirement dinner or similar events) and the meal is provided by the operator/owner of the room, the charge for the room, whether or not separately stated, is treated as an additional charge for the furnishing, preparing or serving of the meal and is included in the sales price of the meal.2. If a customer rents a room for purposes other than the serving of meals and there is an incidental serving of light refreshments by the operator/owner of the room for an additional charge, the sales tax applies only to the sales price of the refreshments, if the charge for the refreshments is separately stated on both the records of the vendor and the bill to the customer. If the charges are not separately stated, the entire amount charged is subject to the sales tax.3. If more than one meeting room has been rented for use at the same function, with one room being used for the serving of meals and another room being used for the meeting; the facility's separately stated and reasonable charge (based on prevailing rates in the area) for the room not used for the serving of meals is not treated as charges for the meals, and is not subject to sales tax. If the charge for the room being used for the meeting is neither separately stated nor reasonable, the facility's total charges are treated as charges for the meals, and are subject to sales and use taxes. B. Living Quarters Furnished for Employees: Tax will not apply in a case where living quarters are furnished by the employer to the employee, at premises controlled by the employer, and solely for the convenience of the employer; regardless of whether there is a pay differential, or pay deduction, based upon the furnishing of such quarters. 280 R.I. Code R. § 280-RICR-20-70-51.9