DAVID Y. IGE

LINDA CHU TAKAYAMAGOVERNORDIRECTORDOUGLAS S. CHINDAMIEN A. ELEFANTE

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

STATE OF HAWAII
DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION
830 PUNCHBOWL STREET, ROOM 221
HONOLULU, HAWAII 96813
http://tax.hawaii.gov/
Phone: (808) 587-1577 / Fax: (808) 587-1584
Email: Tax.Technical.Section@hawaii.gov

September 27, 2018

DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION ANNOUNCEMENT NO. 2018-14
RE:Kauai County Surcharge on General Excise Tax and Rate of Tax Visibly Passed on toCustomers, Effective January 1, 2019

On December 11, 2017, Ordinance No. 1021 was enacted in Kauai County. Ordinance
No. 1021 authorizes the imposition of a county surcharge (CS) on general excise tax (GET) forKauai County beginning on January 1, 2019 and ending on December 31, 2030 at the rate of0.5%. Since the retail GET rate is 4%, the total rate of tax imposed on transactions subject to theKauai CS is 4.5%.
As a general rule, the CS only applies to transactions where the retail rate of 4% applies;
the CS does not apply to wholesale sales or insurance commission where the GET rates are 0.5%
and 0.15% respectively. For guidance regarding the sourcing of income between counties,
please see Hawaii Administrative Rules sections 18-237-8.6-01 to 10.
Rate of Tax Visibly Passed on to Customers
GET is levied on the gross receipts of a business, including amounts that are passed on
and collected as GET from customers. To account for this imposition, the maximum rate that
may be passed on to customers is higher than the statutory rate of 4.5% (4% GET + 0.5% Kauai
CS). However, a seller is prohibited by consumer protection law from visibly collecting morethan the amount actually owed.
The maximum rate that may be visibly passed on in Kauai County is 4.712%. This passon rate is limited to six decimal places and is calculated as follows. When the taxes are visibly
passed on the gross receipts consist of the price and tax. The price represents 95.5% of the grossreceipts and the tax represents 4.5% of the gross receipts. The tax stated as a percent of the priceis 0.047120 or 4.712% (4.5% divided by 95.5%).
It is important to note that the 4.712% rate is the maximum rate of tax that may be visibly
passed on. Sellers may also pass on the tax at the statutory rate of 4.5% or may elect not tovisibly pass on the tax at all.
The following example illustrates why the maximum visible pass on rate is greater than
the statutory rate. Assume that the purchase price is $1,000, that the pass on rate is 4.5%, and theDepartment of Taxation Announcement No. 2018-14
September 27, 2018
Page 2 of 2

amount collected as tax is $45.00. The GET due is $41.80 ($1,045.00 x 4%) and the Kauai CS
due is $5.22 ($1045.00 x 0.5%) for a total of $47.02 due. The amount visibly passed on as taxes
was $2.02 less than was due on the transaction. If the taxes were passed on at the maximum rateof 4.712%, $47.12 would have been collected as tax on the transaction. The GET due would
have been $41.89 ($1,047.12 x 4%) and the Kauai CS due would have been $5.23 ($1,047.12 x0.5%) for a total of $47.12 due.
For general information about GET, see Tax Facts 37-1. If you have any questions
regarding this Announcement, please contact the Technical Section by email attax.technical.section@hawaii.gov or by phone at (808) 587-1577.

LINDA CHU TAKAYAMA
Director of Taxation