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!

[Clare0]

@Linda92 Most, if not all, hosts enter their SSN when they set up their payout account so they know who you are. If you didn't give Airbnb your SSN number, they would be witholding 28% of your payouts for taxes  🙂   In addition, the amount paid to the state is itemized in your earnings section as described in this link:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1036/how-does-occupancy-tax-collection-and-remittance-by-airbnb-...

Hope this clears things up for you!

[Linda92]

Thank you Clare...I think I've figured out that I don't have to notify FL of any revenue because tax is being collected by Airbnb.  As far as the SSN...if the rental is licensed as a business, such as an LLC, Airbnb doesn't have that number.  LOL.    Thanks again.

[Clare0]

@Linda92 If the LLC has it's own Tax ID number, perhaps you should change from your SSN to the LLC's.  If the income is supposed to be in the LLC tax return, that would make more sense. Right?

[Linda92]

I'll check it out!  🙂

[Anthony45]

As a legal property manager, this is a complete DISASTER and we will no longer list our properties on airbnb.

[Gray0]

There can be more than one tax to collect. Tourist tax, sales tax, county tax. The Florida Dept of Revenue lists each county and their various tax requirements.  http://dor.myflorida.com/Forms_library/current/dr15dss.pdf

Amazingly Palm Beach County has no sales tax. I'm going to assume that AirBnB is collecting the tourist development tax correctly for me in Boca Raton. There is also a "A collection allowance of 2.5% of the tax collected when the tax return is timely filed." So I assume AirBnB is getting that discount for their fair share of tourist taxes collected.

[Clare0]

Hi @Gray0 I wouldn't assume anything.  I would recommend that you do a "pretend" booking on your preview to see if the tax is itemized at the point of requesting a reservation.   I you assume wrongly, there could be h**l to pay!

[Gray0]

Yes, AirBnB has been itemizing the tax for my bookings in Boca Raton.

[Clare0]

@Gray0 Oh, good!

[Gray0]

I am still confused about which tax is being paid by AirBNB. Today I went to the Florida Dept of Revenue expecting to pay unclollected sales tax, penalties, interest.  I showed them the AirBnB taxes withheld. They seemed unsure too but looked into it and said AirBnB was was paying the 6% FL sales tax and I should check with Palm Beach County for county taxes. I previously thought AirBnB was paying the 6% county tourist development tax. That's what the web site says is being paid. I'll have to double check with Palm Beach County to see.

[Clare0]

@Gray0 Geez, what a mess! At least I don't have to pay State occupancy taxes....at least as far as I know! 

[Gray0]

I sent Palm Beach County Tax Collector an email asking them to verify if my tourist tax is being paid by AirBnB. That resulted in a bizarre chain of multi-colored texts, blank emails and illiterate answers. So far, they refused my request because the tax information is private. Quote "Due to privacy laws we cannot divulge information on any account. You will have to contact AirBNB" then "Thank you for contacting the Tax Collector’s Office. We have updated your certifitions." in two colors of text.

Wow! Incredibile Red Flag of incompetence. Not sure if that is enough to give me immunity for tax evasion, but I asked to escalate to the office supervisor.

[Karen1]

@Gray0,

Back in June you posted a link to a document and you stated that Palm Beach has no Sales Tax. However, the document you were refering to showed that Palm Beach has no Surtax; that's different. According to this: http://dor.myflorida.com/Forms_library/current/dr15tdt.pdf , you need to pay Palm Beach county 6% of your sales, in addition to the 6% state tax collected for you by Airbnb.  I do not believe that Palm Beach County is one that Airbnb collects tax for.

To verify what tax Airbnb is collecting for you,  go to "Your Listings",  click on "Manage Listing and Calendar" for the listing you want to view, and select "Location" on the left. If occupancy taxes are being collected and remitted on your behalf, they'll be listed at the bottom of the page. You should definitely see "Your listing is in Florida State where Airbnb collects and remits occupancy taxes on your behalf." Look for "Local Laws"  and see if anything is being collected.

It is surprising to me how many people in general, but especially in govenment, still do not know about Airbnb. You need to contact a supervisor, for sure.

[Gray0]

Looking at the AirBnB web page it says they are paying "Occupancy Tax" and those amounts are itemized for my rental. I had assumed they meant they were paying Tourist Development Tax which is what Palm Beach calls the bed tax. The tax AirBnB says they are paying amounts to about 6%. I assumed I needed to start paying sales tax. When I went to that office they looked up my address and said the sales tax was paid. I was surprised, but that meant if only 6% tax was paid on my rental there would be another 6% due to somebody. My question was is the State or County tax being paid by AirBnB. As of two days ago the County refused to answer my request and I asked to escalate to supervisor. I am still waiting. Now I went online the the Palm Beach County tax site and I may have to pay not only Tourist tax, but get a Business License and pay that tax, and that application has to be approved by City Of Boca Raton Zoning and Building. That creates another problem because my neighborhood is zoned as residential - not multi family. So I cannot rent more that one room in my 3 bedroom house. And I also have to pay Tangible Personal Property tax on the furniture and appliances. 

This is a can of WORMS! I never thought renting rooms in my house made me a motel business, but the CIty and County and State says yes it is. They can even seize the property for unpaid taxes down the road. So even if I had a "roommate" that rented for less than 6 months and one day - that would make me a motel business liable for taxes and reporting.

I wonder how many home owners that lease their house for less than 6 months make themselves a business entity!

[Clare0]

@Gray0 What a mess! I suspect that's what happens when a state doesn't have income tax.  They nickel and dime you to death to recoup the revenue they would otherwise get from income taxes.  I have to pay Occupancy Tax to my county, but not city or state. 

Hope you get it all sorted out!