florida sales tax

[Ogi-And-Raj0]

Dear Community,

AirBnB announced that, happily, they will be collecting FL sales tax as of December 1. I have several clarification questions:

1. Will collect money on all bookings physially made after December 1 or on all booking that start after December 1 even if they had been made prior to that day? If only the first, that could prove to be very confusing since I have a bunch of bookings for up to July 2016, all made before Dec 1. How are we going to differentiate what to pay?

2. Are the state taxes going to be passed completely onto the clients and not to us? In other words, I do not have to worry about filing state taxes on Airbnb bookings anymore?

While I applaud the decision to help with state taxes, any further instructions would be terrific. Thanks!

[Karen1]

@Ogi-And-Raj0,  @Ed-and-Hugh0,  @Sherban-and-Barbara0,  @Clare0,

I have posted this on another thread, but want all Florida hosts involved. So again:

I have called the Super Host line and I have tweeted the Airbnb Help and I have not yet received a satisfactory reply to my specific question. They say they will research it. (I also have a question into the FL Dept of Revenue.) If everyone would tweet the help line, maybe would could finally get this question answered. On twitter, send a Direct Message to  @AirbnbHelp. 

Here is the basic question:

As a Florida Host, do I need to report my Transient Rental Sales to FL DOR even though Airbnb is collecting the Sales Tax?  The FL DOR has told several hosts that we must associate our tax ID to any funds collected in order to receive proper credit. If the funds are not associated with our tax IDs, then we will be open for audit and possible fines.  How do we do this without paying the tax ourselves, thus double taxation? Please advise!

[Juan-and-Bob0]

Thanks @Karen1, I agree that if we all tweet  to Airbnb Help with the exact text you suggest we will get some type of traction on clarification. Seems they've taken this very lightly so far... 

[Karen1]

Here is the official Airbnb answer to my questions.  Please see that the Occupancy Tax collected can be found in the Gross Earnings section of our Transaction History:

"We are collecting and remitting Florida Transient Rental Tax of 6.00% on your behalf.

Please do understand that we have signed an agreement with the Florida state, meaning the state is aware that Airbnb has a collect and remit feature. We will be filing one tax return per jurisdiction, with the total combined reservation revenue.

We will not be filing individual forms (such as the DR-1C form) on behalf of hosts.
You may need to file $0 returns going forward, but please consult a professional tax advisor to determine what is necessary for you.

Occupancy Taxes column in your Gross Earnings section of the Transaction History can serve as documentation of the taxes that have been collected, paid for and remitted on your behalf.

I hope this clarified your concern but please let me know if you have further concerns."

[Juan-and-Bob0]

Airbnb is collecting 7% on my post-Dec. 1 reservations, 6% for Florida and 1% for Osceola, the county we're in.

[Sue174]

@Juan-and-Bob0  I stumbled on your post because I, too, own a short-term rental in Osceola County in Kissimmee. I would love to pick your brain about the state tax. I know Airbnb remits the 6 % directly to the local, Osceola county department. However, who remits the 7.5% State tax to the FDOR?  Or am I confused about what Airbnb is sending to who?  All I know is I have set up Airbnb to charge 13.5% tax. Are they sending that entire sum to only one place  even though it is supposed to go to two separate authorities?  Any help you could give me would be appreciated. I am so green at this. LOL 

[Juan-and-Bob0]

Hi Sue. Airbnb collects and remits ONLY sales taxes in Osceola, i.e. 6% for the state and 1.5% (formerly 1%) for the county, for a total of 7.5%.

You're still responsible to remit the 6% tourist/resort/hotel tax to the county. 

There's no setup needed on Airbnb, they automatically charge the state+county sales tax in every reservation. All you need to do is incorporate the 6% hotel tax into your rates, either by adding it to your existing rates, or by absorbing it with your current ones.

[Sue174]

Yikes. I missed this I guess. I owe 6% tourist/resort/hotel tax to the county for a few bookings I guess. I can't just add it to my existing rates because I also rent on HA and have to keep pricing consistent. I see now that rentals on Airbnb will bring me less earnings because I will be eating this 6% tax. On the other site, I can specify how much tax to add and then funnel it to a savings account to pay out later. I must have thought I set up the same scenario on Airbnb in the beginning. This is disappointing but thank you for clarifying.

[Karen1]

@Ogi-And-Raj0, @Juan-and-Bob0, @Ed-and-Hugh0, @Sherban-and-Barbara0, @Clare0  I finally got the OFFICIAL word from the State of Florida about our transient sales tax. We do NOT have to report any income on which Airbnb collects taxes. In fact, the Dept of Revenue has inactivated my tax account. Here is the email I received today, Jan 28, 2016.

To:       Karen Rigel

From: Florida Department of Revenue/Tallahassee

The Department of Revenue has received your email regarding your transient rental which is being handled by AIRBNB.  There is no obligation for you to be actively registered for your rental location due to the agreement between AIRBNB and DOR. 

I have inactivated your sales tax account effective 12/1/15, the date of your contract with AIRBNB.  If anytime in the future you end your contract with AIRBNB, your account can be reactivated.

I have amended your December 2015 sales tax return to zero which generated a credit for your payment of $42.98. 

You may submit an application for refund/DR-26S which can be downloaded at http://dor.myflorida.com/Forms_library/current/dr26s.pdf ; or submitted online at https://taxapps.state.fl.us/Refunds/DR26S.aspx . Please note, the refund may take up to three months to receive.  I apologize for the confusion; however, information regarding the agreement between DOR and AIRBNB was unavailable when you first sent your request.

Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. If you have additional questions, feel free to contact DOR at 1-800-352-3671.

Eloise C. Spears

Tax Specialist I

Taxpayer Services Process

Standard Notice: If you need to contact us, we recommend you use our secure Ask a Question Form online at https://askdor.state.fl.us/FAQ/FAQSearch.aspx, or write to us at:

Department of Revenue

Tax Information Services

5050 West Tennessee Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399

Want the latest tax information? Want due date reminders to file sales tax and unemployment tax? Go to www.myflorida.com/dor and click on: Subscribe to Our Publications. It's fast, easy, and free!

[Juan-and-Bob0]

Thanks @Karen1, great info! So we no longer need our own tax ID, although I do wonder what happens with those reservations made before Dec. 1  that haven't happened yet...

I've been back and forth with Airbnb Help after bugging them on Twitter (the fastest way to get a response) and their last email from yesterday said:

Miles C, Jan 27, 15:20:

Hi Juan & Bob,

This is Miles from the Airbnb Trip Experience Team. I spoke with our Tax team and they let me know they are still working on a solution for our hosts in Florida. Other hosts have contacted us about this as well and we are hoping to have an update as soon as possible, however we don't have anything we can add at this time.

My apologies for the inconvenience I'm sure this is causing you.

Miles C

www.airbnb.com/help

[Karen1]

@Juan-and-Bob0,

Yes, I wondered how to handle that too, but the Department of Revenue both canceled my tax account and are offering a refund for December. The tax I paid in December was for a reservation made before December 1. So, my response is if the Department is refunding me this tax that I paid, then I will ignore the future reservations that were made prior to this cut off date.  Just what I plan to do, not my recommendation for others.

[Ogi-And-Raj0]

Ha, that is interesting. I, however, also do bookings throgh other channels so I cannot have my account canceled. I have a ton of reseervations made before Dec 1, so to me it just makes no sense. I might give that woman a call. Thanks, anyway!

[Matthew19]

I had several conversations with Sabrina at the Florida Department of Revenue (850-717-6453).  She said two important things:

1.  If Airbnb is going to collect sales tax only on a *portion* of the revenue in a month, then I should file a return and list just the revenue on which Airbnb did not collect sales tax.

2.  At some point in the future, when Airbnb is collecting the sales tax on *all* of my revenue, then I can just deactivate my account with the FDOR.

Note that #2 is relevant only because I only rent my apartment through Airbnb.

[Linda92]

I saw your posting from January.  Thank you for contacting the FLDOR.  However, I still don't understand one point:  When AIRBNB remits sales tax on our behalf, how does FLDOR know who to credit it to?  AirBNB does not have my tax id number, nor do they know the name the property is licensed under.

Thanks!

Linda

[Ed-and-Hugh0]

@Linda92 FLDOR doesn't know and doesn't care where the sales came from. They just want the revenue. It's best not to over-complicate this. Airbnb and FLDOR have worked it out to make it simpler for us. Let's not fret over their agreement.

[Linda92]

OK.  I think I finally got it.  It appears that it's ok with FLDOR that we don't even report the revenue.  If that's the case, then I'm ok too!