I list my Mexican property in USD and the money is sent to my US bank account. I receive emails of the expected payout in USD when the reservation is made, however, the actual payout is less. I have tried to figure out why and the closest I can get is that the original estimate does not include the 4% income tax that is withheld. I am taxed at that rate because I supplied a Mexican RFC (tax ID). Without that tax ID, AirBnb states they will withhold 20% for income tax which you cannot recover.
Because of the amount of money I am earning on AirBnb with my Mexican property, I meet the Mexican government requirement to file my taxes monthly, which my Mexican accountant handles. I make sure that I get facturas for everything I possibly can. I have a property management company that provides facturas. Sometimes I have a tax credit and occasionally, I owe additional Mexican income tax, which is usually not that much. When I owed income or VAT tax, I sent the money from the US to my accountant’s business account and he paid it. He really didn’t care for me doing that. All my other Mexican bills, I found ways to directly pay them myself without a Mexican bank account, such as Xoom for CFE, XE for HOA fees, paying the accountant or American credit card for property taxes. I recently opened a Mexican personal bank account with Banorte. I did not have to open a business account as I own my Mexican property near the coast under a fideicomiso and not a Mexican Corporation. By the way, I advise highly against buying property through a Mexican Corp. as the accountant fees are very high and it is much more complicated to open an account. I know of one Mexican accountant where his clients don’t have access to their own business accounts and have no idea how much money they have, etc. I was able to easily open my Banorte personal account by myself. I speak a little Spanish and the bank employee used Google Translate and we were able to get it done in less than one hour.
Now, with the new Mexican bank account, I send money from the US with XE in order to start paying bills related to the Mexican property and it is working well. I really like the Banorte mobile app. So now, I am wondering if I should send my AirBnb payouts directly to my Mexican peso account instead of my US account. XE gives the best transfer rates around, but I understand that you have to be careful because the Mexican government may decide to tax it as income. XE says that any more than $10,000 and you may owe taxes, but I don’t know if that is one transaction or for a year.
I’ve seen people complaining about a 3% charge that AirBnb has for the exchange rate when guests are making a reservation and some people have equated that to be the same for host payouts where the currency of the listing does not match the currency of the payout bank. If you have listed your payout account as Paypal, you are paying some hefty fees and I advise against it. If you are sending through an International or even Domestic wire, you will be charged whatever your banking institution charges. I use a credit union in the US that charges no fees as a direct deposit from AirBnb, and not as a wire transfer.
I set up a new payment method on AirBnb to send the money directly to my Mexican bank account. I am waiting for verification and then I will set it as the new default payout method. However, all future reservations already made will still go to the US account as AirBnb collects those fees when the reservation is made. Once I receive a payout to my Mexican bank account, I will make a follow-up post comparing the payouts to either the US or Mexico using the published average exchange rate between buy and sell for that date.
In the meantime, if any other members have experience with this, I would like to hear.
