On Feb. 8 the Hawaii House Finance Committee held a hearing on, and approved, HB 2702 with amendments. This bill would require, among other things, that REITs file either a composite (entity-level) state tax return or pay withholding tax attributable to distributions to non-resident shareholders based on their pro rata share of a REIT’s income attributable to Hawaii.
In addition, a REIT’s Hawaii tax return would need to include the name, address and social security number of each REIT shareholder, and the number of shares owned by each shareholder at all times during the taxable year.
On March 2, the House Finance Committee published its committee report and the approved version of HB 2702, HB 2702 HD 1 . On March 6 the Hawaii House voted to approve HB 2702 HD 1 . The revised bill now crosses over to the Senate.
On Feb. 9, the Hawaii Senate Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on SB 3067 , and on Feb. 21, the Committee voted to approve the bill with amendments. On March 2, the Committee published a committee report and the text of that amended bill, SB 3067 SD 1. However, on March 6, the Hawaii’s Senate voted to recommit that bill to the Ways and Means Committee.
Nareit will continue to vigorously oppose these bills.
(Contact: Dara Bernstein at dbernstein@nareit.com)