American Philosophical Association, et al., v. District of Columbia
Superior Court of the District of Columbia- Tax Division
No. 2019 CVT 000003
IF YOUR ORGANIZATION QUALIFIES, IT MAY BE ENTITLED TO A TAX REFUND
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LAW BY WHICH IT REQUIRES A SEMIPUBLIC INSTITUTION TO HAVE AN OFFICE IN THE DISTRICT IN ORDER TO OBTAIN AN EXEMPTION FROM HOTEL AND SALES TAXES HAS BEEN HELD TO VIOLATE THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.
On February 13, 2024, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (Tax Division) ruled that the provision of District of Columbia (“District’) law that gave “semipublic institutions” – principally, nonprofit scientific, educational and charitable organizations – that have offices in the District a hotel and sales tax exemption but did not give semipublic institutions without an office in the District such an exemption, violates the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause. That Clause prohibits a state, including the District, from discriminating against out-of-state entities when they participate in its economy. Thus, the District, in favoring its own resident organizations, was found to have discriminated un-Constitutionally against such entities from other states. Not a single other state imposes a residency requirement on semipublic institutions in order to obtain a tax exemption when engaging in commerce in it. Additional information is available in the Court Documents.
If your organization is a member of the Class, your organization may be entitled to obtain a refund of sales and hotel taxes it paid for meetings or events that your organization held in the District since December 12, 2016, plus interest.
The lawsuit, American Philosophical Association v. District of Columbia, 2019 CVT 000003, was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the American Philosophical Association and the American Anthropological Association, on June 12, 2017 (the “Plaintiffs”) on their behalf and on behalf of similar organizations. On April 30, 2021, the Court granted class certification.
Plaintiffs claimed that the District law, D.C. Code § 47-2005(3)(C), that only permits semipublic institutions with an office in the District to obtain an exemption from District sales and hotel taxes, violates the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, because that law discriminates against semipublic institutions that do not have offices within the District. The D.C. Superior Court agreed with Plaintiffs and found the law to be unconstitutional.
All semipublic institutions that do not have offices within the District and which have been classified as exempt from federal taxation pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3), that paid a sales and/or hotel taxes to any of the hotels listed below in connection with any meetings held at any such hotels for the purpose for which the institution was organized or for honoring the institution or its members from December 12, 2016, and continuing until there is a final determination that the requirement under D.C. that a semipublic institution must reside in the District in order to obtain an exemption from sales and hotel taxes violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.
A “semipublic institution” is defined as “any corporation, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized exclusively for religious, scientific, charitable, or educational purposes, including hospitals, no part of the net earnings of which inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.” If your organization is a Section 501(c)(3) organization, it meets this definition and should put in a claim to be eligible for a tax refund from the District, if it held a meeting in the District during this time period.
The hotels are: The Washington Hilton, the Marriott Marquis, the Renaissance Washington, the Omni Shoreham Hotel, the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Mayflower Hotel, the Hyatt Regency, the JW Marriot, the Capital Hilton, the Willard Intercontinental, the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, the Fairmont, the Mandarin Oriental, the Watergate Hotel, the Hilton D.C. National Mall Hotel, the Marriott Georgetown, the Washington Marriott at Metro Center, and the Westin Washington City Center.
If your organization is a member of the Class, to submit a claim to obtain these unconstitutionally collected taxes back, plus interest, your organization must complete and sign the Proof of Claim Form available here. The deadline to submit a Proof of Claim Form is June 6, 2025. If your organization is a member of the Class but does not submit a Claim Form by this date, it will not be eligible to receive a refund.