(Washington, DC) - Effective October 1, an increase in the District of Columbia Sales and Use tax will apply to the following tax types:

Parking

The tax on services for parking or storing motor vehicles or trailers will increase from 12 percent to 18 percent.

Cigarettes

In lieu of sales tax collected by vendors, there now will be a cigarette surtax levied on cigarettes sold. The cigarette surtax will be 36¢ for a package of 20 cigarettes, which raises the total tax to $2.86 per pack of 20 cigarettes. For packages that contain more than 20, there will be an additional 1.8¢ for each cigarette above 20. The tax will be $3.575 per pack of 25 cigarettes.

Armored Car, Private Investigation and Security Services

There is a new six percent tax on armored car, private investigation and security services. 

The Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) would also like to remind applicable businesses of the new annual filing requirement, in which the annual Sales and Use tax filing for 2011 will be for the period January 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011.  Annual filing and payments will be due October 20, 2011, instead of January 20, 2012.

To find out exactly how the law will apply or for additional information, visit www.taxpayerservicecenter.com or call OTR’s Customer Service Center at (202) 727-4TAX (4829).