Hawaii accommodation tax

[Robyn15]

Is Airbnb collecting Hawaii state accommodation tax yet?

[Andrea2111]

I had the same thing happen -- I won't be booking with Airbnb anymore. Hidden costs on the eve of your vacation are stressful and unpleasant. Any hosts on this forum -- it is not ok to hide the tax deep in "policies" that require you to click to open. This should be made very clear up front. I would contact the guest with this information WITHIN THE CANCELLATION PERIOD, not two days before they are supposed to arrive. Guests feel extorted that way. It also doesn't allow me to compare costs. With this added cost, I could have had a two bedroom suite at the Marriott for less, with no stress or uncertainty, waterslides for the kids, and lots of loyalty points too. 

[CarlandMarilyn0]

I finally found this thread  for HI tax issues. Iʻm interested to see how it all works out. HI GET is an ingenious tactic for the revenue dept. Where else do you get to pay taxes upon taxes?

Dean, I like your idea of including the tax breakdown in the reply. Iʻve been concerned about how to show that Iʻve included tax in my listing prices. Thanks for sharing!

Marilyn

[Jane431]

Is it mandatory to collect and pay?

[Dean11]

Yes, I believe collection and payment is our obligation as Hawaii taxpayers.

dean

[Alison0]

Yes, it is mandatory to collet and pay the GET and TAT - you also need a tax license. However, many people do not collect and/or pay. I do not want the tax collectors at my door after the fact with taxes and penalties etc so I pay the GET and TAT quarterly. People not paying taxes is also what upsets so much of the general community and has soured people on the Airbnb model. It is included in my nightly rate (and it hurts) - I do as Dean has suggested and work out the pre-tax prices for every guest so there is a vsisible line item breakdown of the taxes. This has been really helpful to not pay tax on the tax (thanks Dean). I tried collecting taxes after the fact - but people did not like this and viewed it with a lot of suspicion.

[Paige48]

All -

Nobody seems to be talking about the fact that even though Hawaii requires us to pay the GET and TAT they also consider Airbnb illegal and can charge hosts with a Class C felony.  I have read many posts out there that say signing up to pay GET and TAT is only a tactic they are using to get the names of people that they will later charge with a felony.

It is my understanding that you cannot do nightly rentals witout a B&B license and they havne't issued one of those since the 80's.  Anybody voluntarily offering up the GET and TAT taxes is putting themselves at risk of being charged with a class C felonly!

I have no problems paying taxes (if they are fair - and Hawaii's don't seem to be) and if they make it legal to do so.

Is anybody else worried about going to jail?  I hear the penalty is up to 1 year and $25,000 fine (for having an illegal b&b - not for failing to pay taxes).

Airbnb recently sent an email saying all Hawaii hosts needed to comply with taxes by July 20th.  However, an independent website said the bill has been put on hold indefinitely. 

Is Airbnb planning on releasing our names and personal information to the state of Hawaii?  If we voluntarily give ourselves up for participating in nightly rentals do we risk going to jail?

HELP!

[Brent-and-Sylvie0]

It is illegal not to pay GE and Transient Tax and the department of taxation is cracking down especially on Airbnb rentals owned by out of state landlords not paying income tax in Hawaii. We had a tax investigator knocking on doors in Kona! The Kona police said he was legit and he was gathering information. Many residents are not too fond of absentee landlords renting out proeprty and not paying income tax in Hawaii. Even worst if they are not paying their GE and Transeit!  I have an excellent accountant who instead of doing it ALL for me, set it up in Quickbooks for me so it's easy to enter. She then goes in my Hawaii State online account and filles out the forms and then I just log on and pay!!!  When I met her I was in tears trying to figure it all out as I was managing a vacation rental for family.   Google EQUATIONS HAWAII INC if you need help to get current and LEGAL!

[Steve-and-Merry0]

Mahalo all Hawaii AirBnB landlords.  I'm just getting into this and trying so hard to find TAT answers with them but their website is sucky.  Don't see a reference to Hawaii on where they collect and nothing on our TAT.  Found this site via Google so here goes....

1.  Does Air collect the TAT?

If so, how is it remitted to state? Do they have a single license/permit or do I need to apply for one? Do they remit to me to pay the TAT?

If not, do I assess, collect and pay on my own permit?

2.  Appears to be some discrepany in the basis for assessing TAT, gross or less Air/maid fees.  Which is it?

3.  What will Air provide me as a gross to net breakdown from each rental and gross at year end?

BTW, I'm a single 1B/1Ba condo.

Don't want to start out with problems so trying to get it right from the start.  Any kokua highly requested and appreciated.  Mahalo

[Rachel-and-Ted0]

Airbnb does not collect the GE and TA taxes. You are obligated to pay them. Between the two, there are variations on how you handle it, such as paying it out of the gross amount collected by Airbnb, or trying to collect an additional amount when your guest arrives. Personally I think VRBO has a better model for this, which is: They visibly add the tax amounts into the bill; the collected funds then go to you.

[Rebecca362]

I just saw a New tax notification in my Listing under Local Laws - it looks like GE and TAT can now be added. So, you'd list your base rate and Airbnb will now collect tax on top of that. You still have to remit the taxes but at least they will be collecting on top of the base rates. This feature is so new, the Airbnb customer service rep wasn't sure if the tax could be broken out by TAT and GE or just lumped into one amount, so I'm going to play around with that now.

[Javed3]

We added the tax option to one of our listings.  In our state, we must pay the tax, ABB cannot.  For some reason, ABB deducted that amount on our next payout, not the applicable booking which comes more than a month from now.  It as been 3 weeks now trying to get that $173 back from them. Still trying. We took the tax option back out for that listing and are waiting to get this resolved before going any further.  Careful....

[Joshua339]

Thank you for sharing your experience! 

[CarlandMarilyn0]

If only they all would do separate line items for GET and TAT, it would save me a good deal of time when writing up my RA with line item charges.

[Steve-and-Merry0]

RA is, I think, rental agreement.  How are you able to use that with AirBnB since they take their part upfront on gross receipts?  When I report GET/TAT I am required to report gross income and pay those taxes again. Maybe I have this all wrong?

[Laura1578]

Aloha,

After much searching it appears that AirBnB currently does not allow us Hawaii folks to collect taxes seperately.  

Is anyone here adding it to there rental fee?  If so, how are you including it?  Is ther an explanation in your listing? What verbiage do you use?

Mahalo for any help.