Question: With all the interest in accessory dwelling units, has anybody checked on the tax implications and requirements when adding an attached or detached rental unit to your existing, owner-occupied property? If I add an ADU, do I need to apply for a general excise tax license? Or, do I just report the added income at year’s end?

Answer: If you earn money by renting out the ADU, you’ll need a GET license. You must pay general excise tax on the rental income.

Mallory C. Fujitani, spokeswoman for the state Department of Taxation, explains: “While merely adding an accessory dwelling unit to your property carries no general excise tax consequence, renting any portion of your home does. Anyone who rents out all or a portion of their home, which would include homeowners who take advantage of the city’s new ordinance allowing for the building of accessory dwelling units, would be required to pay general excise tax on the total amount of rental income received.”

A GET license must be obtained any time an individual or entity is engaged in business, she said. The GET license number would be used to report and pay the GET owed on the rental income received.

Homeowners who plan to rent out ADUs should apply for a GET license — for a one-time fee of $20 — either online or at any of the state’s four district tax offices (on Oahu, Hawaii, Kauai, Maui). Once a GET license number is obtained, homeowners will be required to report GET on the rental income received on a monthly, quarterly or semiannual basis (Form G-45), depending on the amount of tax liability owed, she said.

After the end of the year, GET taxpayers are required to file an annual reconciliation (Form G-49) of the total rental income received during the prior year. The total amount of rental income received during the year must also be reported as income on the homeowners’ state and federal income tax returns. The rental income should be reported on Hawaii Form N-11 (residents) or N-15 (nonresidents), and federal Form 1140 and federal Schedule E, Fujitani said.

For more information about GET requirements, including instructions on how to apply for a license online, see tax.hawaii.gov/geninfo/get/.

Q: On a visit to the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park, I watched as a woman allowed her dog to defecate on someone’s grave. When I saw the dog start, I thought she would pick up her dog and take him away, but no. She stood there and waited for him to finish his business. She did pick up the dog poop, but still I didn’t like it. I also noticed that the entire time that I was visiting my family member’s grave, she and her dog spent the entire time in the car. She never came out to visit anyone’s grave. Does this mean that she daily walks her dog on people’s graves? Needless to say if it had been my loved one’s grave, we would have had a serious confrontation.

A: We followed up with the general manager of the Kaneohe cemetery, who assured us that general dog-walking is not a problem there. Dennis Boser Jr. was confident that you witnessed an isolated incident, or that the dog was there because its owner was paying respects at the gravesite. Cemetery visitors are allowed to bring pets as long as they are leashed and well-behaved, although even those types of visits are not especially common, he said.

“We know that beloved family pets can really help people to heal in a grieving situation, so it’s OK if people bring them with them to visit a grave, as long as they are controlled and picked up after,” Boser said. “But there’s no dog-walking here. It’s not a problem. We just don’t see it.”

We’re relieved that you avoided a confrontation. Beefing at an otherwise peaceful cemetery would have caused its own disruption. You mentioned that you saw the woman with the dog at a gravesite, and also that you saw her waiting with the dog in a car. Perhaps you registered your dismay non-verbally and she detected your disapproval and removed the offending canine from the grounds. If so, that was a respectful response to your understandable reaction.

At any rate, Boser thanked you for your support in maintaining the serene beauty of the memorial park. He will be on the lookout to ensure that dogs — whether pets accompanying cemetery visitors or otherwise — do not despoil gravesites.

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.