U.S. Hosts - Airbnb requires taxpayer information. Submit your info to keep hosting

[Airbnb]

[Updated December 16, 2021]

If you have an active US listing, an active US payout method, or have a US country of residence according to our records, changes to IRS rules may affect your tax filing next year.

To ensure we receive this information, if you don’t provide it:

• We have begun pausing payouts and will also be blocking calendars from future reservations until we receive this information.
• You may also experience up to 30%* tax withholdings on your 2022 payouts.

*Exact tax withholding percentage will vary based on your tax situation.

Up until now, we have only issued 1099 forms to Hosts who had earnings of over $20,000 per year and 200 bookings or actions. Starting January 1, 2022, the American Rescue Plan Act will require Airbnb to issue a 1099 form for all Hosts with annual earnings of $600 or more.

Learn more in the Resource Center.  

We have also started compiling answers to your most common US tax questions, and will continue updating as we hear more. What questions do you have about these upcoming US tax changes?

[Bob53]

Why, as a non-US resident with no link to the US and no US assets should a UK resident submit a tax form to the IRS in America?  Why does Airbnb not listen to requests to stop constant hounding by Airbnb on this?  How do I get out of this nonsense?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Bob53 The post above says 'We strongly recommend that all Hosts who file taxes in the U.S. provide taxpayer information to Airbnb by December 1, 2021.'

So this doesn't apply to you. Are you being 'hounded' elsewhere?

[Bob53]

Yes. By Airbnb. Despite the fact that I have never filed a US tax return. The Airbnb support did not read my messages or listen to what I said.  They also closed discussions despite me saying that I needed more help.  I also read that the same thing happened some time ago when they withheld tax from earnings for non-us tax payers, (Mexicans), paid it to the IRS and then declined to reimburse the money wrongly taken. Airbnb just does what it wants and has no accountability for its mistakes. Hosts are not treated well and the support team are useless. 

[Jenny838]

Why wouldn’t Air be able to send a complete tax form for this site? It should be as simple as showing payout and withheld. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jenny838 Presumably Airbnb need your tax information in order to provide a complete form. Otherwise the payout/witheld could apply to anyone.

[Mark116]

I thought the $600 threshold didn't make it into the final legislation, but maybe I am mistaken. 

Also, Airbnb already has the tax information for US citizens unless the listing is done under an LLC or other corporate entity.

I must be missing something.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Mark116 Perhaps hosts who have hosted for a long time haven't provided all the necessary information?

[Mark116]

@Mike-And-Jane0  All it's asking for is name, SS# and address.  All things that it already has for U.S. tax purposes so it seems redundant unless the 'host' is a corporation not an individual.

[Bob53]

But if you live in the U.K., have no link with the US in any way, have never had any dealings in the US, why should I need to complete a US tax form?  Would you comply if the U.K. government demanded that you submitted a UK tax form?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Scott Is there a chance your Airbnb program thinks @Bob53 lives in New Jersey rather than the Jersey in the UK?

[Thomas2025]

We are a property management company with several different units that belong to several different owners/businesses. All the income is deposited into our Escrow account and is distributed to the individual owners on a monthly basis. We 1099 our owners ourselves.

We are trying to figure out how this works with this new AirBNB requirement.

There is no option available  to enter multiple Tax EINs, which is not ideal any way.

How are we able to voluntarily exclude ourselves from this policy and not have the 30% taken from the income?  

[Moira135]

Did you ever get this issue resolved? I am currently listing my first property on AirBnB as a property manager. The home is owned by an LLC  that I am not a part of. In the future, I hope to host for other LLCs or homeowners as well. I am not sure if I should use the LLC tax info or my own.  If I use my own, how will that negatively impact me.  I had been planning to have AirBnb deposit money into my account and I would distribute the profits monthly.  I don't want the IRS to think that all the money coming out of AirBnB is my income as I will only be taking a percentage.  Can you advise at all?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Thomas2025 I very much doubt you can exclude yourself from this policy as it is driven by your governments requirements. Presumably if you provide your company info to Airbnb and then they report this income to the IRS your accounts to the IRS will show a large income but an equally large (minus commission) cost as you pay the money to your owners. I assume the new law requires you to inform the IRS of payments made to your owners hence the 1099s you give to the owners.

[Rick4146]

I have receiving regular phone calls from AirBnB telling me that I need to update my taxpayer information or hosting will be suspended.  I updated the information in December and have received two calls since then.  Also, I've noticed there have been no requests for bookings in the last three weeks.  Has my account been suspended or is no one interested in my property now?  How can I fix this?