Colorado lodging and sales taxes

[Michael491]

We are Denver hosts now registering our room according to the new city Short Term Rental laws. All has gone well so far, despite the overly bureaucratic rules and the general discouragement of business, which we find remarkable. I see that Air BnB now has arrangements to collect taxes directly for those hosting in Colorado Springs, Golden and Steamboat. Does anyone know if talks are in the works to get Denver into the automated system, obviously it would be a great convenience for the many Denver hosts who are trying to be compliant. Failing that, can other Colorado hosts tell me how they physically collect the local Lodging and state Sales taxes? Do you simply add it to the room rate? Or do you try to collect directly from guests upon arrival? 

[Leah31]

Hey Kim,

This I think is where I originally got my information about collecting tax.  https://mylodgetax.avalara.com/taxcenter/topics/taxes/rental/basics

[Kim203]

My listing is my home where I live. According to the Sales Tax info published by the State of Colorado it is not included in the list of short-term rentals

[Paul377]

I am in the same boat, by using the guest room in my house for airbnb I should be exempt. But even if you are exempt from the taxes, airbnb will collect them anyway and there is no way to opt out.  Very disappointing and it has me looking for airbnb alternatives now. Quote from the airbnb email announcing that they will collect Colorado taxes...

"* You should read and familiarize yourself with the Occupancy Tax provisions in the Terms of Service before you accept a reservation. Under those provisions, you instruct and authorize Airbnb to collect and remit Occupancy Taxes on your behalf in jurisdictions where Airbnb decides to facilitate such collection. If you believe applicable laws exempt you from collecting a tax that Airbnb collects and remits on your behalf, you have agreed that, by accepting the reservation, you are waiving that exemption. If you don’t want to waive an exemption you believe exists, you should not accept the reservation."

[Richard264]

I was hoping to get a preview of the actual tax rate that Airbnb will charge. I think as most of us know... Colorado sales taxes are quite complicated... where in some situations the tax differs street by street. Based on my experiences with other internet purchases (like Amazon)... I'm not confident that Airbnb will get the taxes correct for my address.

I opened a ticket to see if they can provide me the rate that they will charge.

[Tira-and-Sam0]

Does anyone know how to get a State sales tax license?  We have our city of Aurora license and have remitted taxes for the last few months, but I didn't know we had to get a separate State license.  Do we have to register with the Secretary of State before getting the state license?

They don't make it easy- you'd think each state, county and some cities would have more specific instructions since airbnb is becoming much bigger.

Thanks for your help!

Tira

[Richard264]

I never heard back on the ticket I opened last week... so I called today and was able to get right through. Through my own homework... and the input I received from the call... I've been able to determine that Airbnb is collecting the following taxes within the state:

- State sales tax
- County tax
- Special District taxes (in my case these are at the county level)

- Local town or city taxes if the municipality has made arrangements with Airbnb

As of right now... only the following local towns and cities have an agreement with Airbnb:

- Denver

- Boulder

- Colorado Springs

- Golden

- Snowmass Village

- Steamboat Springs

My fear was that Airbnb would collect taxes for Breckenridge on my rental... even though I am not in the town (I'm one half mile out-of-town)... but that is not an issue yet as they are not collecting for Br ckenridge yet. The state, county, and special district taxes are being calculated correctly for me.

[Lynn77]

Hi, 

Where do we see the line item in our listing that shows what taxes are being collected.  I did not see that on my listing.

Lynn

[Richard264]

I had to pull my listing up as a potential guest would see it... and the tax was on the list of charges. I then had to go to the Summit County website to verify that the rate was correct (or close). Lastly... I pulled up some other listings that were in the Town of Breckenridge... and was surprised they had the same rate. After my call to AirBnB... I learned that they are not collecting tax for all cities and towns within the state... only those who have applied for it.

[Leah31]

Thanks Richard.  This is really helpful to me.  Because I too have a Breckenridge address but live outside of town so don't have all the extra local taxes.  That sucks though for people in Breckenridge who has Airbnb paying for only a partial of their taxes.  Makes it so hard.  Really wish one could opt out.  It takes me literally 5-10 min to pay my taxes quarterly.

[Summit-County-Holidays-L0]

We are in Frisco CO and were told that taxes are now collected through AirBnB automatically.

What does it mean for us, owners?

Do we still file quarterly, but claim $0 because AirBnB is claiming and paying the on our behalf?

Do we claim the full revenue as non taxable?

Do we file nothing?

[Tyler29]

Only to the state of Colorado, you still have to pay local to tax to the City of Frisco if they even have one.

[Leah31]

Not sure if this helps anyone but apparently you do not have to file anysales returns.  I emailed Colorado Dept of Revenue and asked and got this response.  Hope it helps.  I still will need to file since I also list/rent on VRBO.

My question:

"I currently rent out my home on VRBO (Homeaway) and Airbnb. In the past it was very easy. I collected the appropriate tax and then filed and paid my taxes directly online. It was easy to report my income. However, starting Feb 1, 2017 Airbnb notified me that they are now collecting and paying sales tax directly so I don't have to. My question is do I need to report this income at all? I'll still have to file because of VRBO income and residual income from Airbnb bookings before Feb 1st. But right now I'm not sure about the income where Airbnb has collected tax for me."

CO DOR's response:

"Since it's being taken over on Feb 1st, you still have to report Jan sales tax, then you should have the account closed since someone else will be doing the reporting."

[Lisa441]

Thanks for sharing this.  I too opened a ticket to find out how AirBNB will be remitting my taxes they are collecting.  I have established licenses with both the State and the City, but they have not asked for my account information, so I'm puzzled at how the taxes they collect will be appropriately remitted to my accounts.  Have yet to receive an answer.

[Holly74]

Hi - our rental is in the Town of Telluride and our total taxes are 12.4%, with the breakdown being 2.9 to CO. state sales tax, Telluride sales tax: 4.5, Telluride excise: 2.0, San Miguel County Sales: 1.0 and then a San Miguel County lodging: 2.0%

Airbnb told me on the phone, and I've checked it against the gross earnings statement for March, that they charge renters only the 2.9% Colorado Sales Tax (Telluride is not one of the places they have a special arrangement with). 

So my plan is to pay Telluride the 6.5 (4.5+2.0) that it wants for all our gross earnings (airbnb and vrbo), and then pay the state the rest (2.9+1.0+2.0), but hopefully I can deduct from that state payment the 2.9% of the airbnb gross that allegedly has been paid on our behalf by airbnb. I also wonder how the state will know that the rest of our bill has been paid by Airbnb.

This is a pain, but I can figure it out. What annoys me is that our airbnb renters are getting a 9.5% discount because they are only paying 2.9% but I have to pay 12.4%!  While the VRBO renters pay the entire 12.4% as a separate line item on their invoice. And while it isn't that much money, I don't want to pay the airbnb service charge on taxes that I should collect by increasing the price. 

Hopefully I have gotten all of this right. If someone has a better idea, please let me know!

Thanks

[Leah31]

Hey Holly,

I had talked to CO DOR and I wouldn't report any of the Airbnb income on what you pay for state taxes.  You may see my previous post.  They told me if someone else is paying taxes on your behalf to not file.  So with the state I would just report your VRBO income.

Hope this helps.

Leah