AirBnB won't validate my wife's SSN for tax verification.

[Eli33195]

My wife and I have a listing we just got up and running. She's listed as the host and I'm the co-host. AirBnB accepted my SSN for tax verification without any issue but keeps rejecting my wife's despite double checking her classification as a sole proprietor/individual and her tax/ssn information. She was able to get someone on the phone who wasn't particularly helpful who seemed to come to the conclusion she needs and EIN but she/we don't have an LLC, there's no employees, it's just our house. Support has not been very helpful. Has anyone experience this before? I don't think it's an issue with her SSN, I think AirBnB is mistakenly thinking she needs an EIN. Was it because she added me as a co-host? Support has been mostly useless so far.

[Joan2709]

@Eli33195 

If you are going to use the Sole Prop Name as the listing owner, Airbnb has a specific way to enter that:

US Taxpayer Identification

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3178#section-heading-5-0

- Your Wife's name and social as appearing on tax returns

- Disregarded Entity Name: Name of sole prop

[Eli33195]

Thank you, this might solve our problem. She doesn't have a DBA or LLC, we own the property jointly and file jointly, we just used her AirBnB account to set it up as she had more reviews as a guest than mine had. We didn't put anything in the "business/disregarded entity" field but you're suggesting we put my wife's name as "full name" and then again in the "business/disregarded entity" field?

[Joan2709]

@Eli33195 

I may have misunderstood your post...

Are you operating the listing under the sole prop name? If so, use the disregarded entity method.

If you are operating the listing under your wife's name only, then it would a SSN/name that EXACTLY matches the IRS files (the names and SSNs on your tax returns).

Please read through the help article mentioned above.

When providing us with your taxpayer information, make sure the following information is correct: 

• US tax ID number: This is usually your Social Security number (individuals) or the Employer Identification Number (business entities).
• Taxpayer or business name: Enter your full legal name exactly as shown on your social security card (individuals) or Form SS-4 (business entities). The name shown here must match the US tax ID number that you provide.

[Eli33195]

Thank you for continuing to respond to this, I did read through that article but I'm not sure it's answering our issue. There's no business structure, or DBA so I believe the correct answer should be "individual" which should only require her name and SSN as it was on our tax returns with nothing in the disregarded entity field but it keeps getting rejected and we don't know why and support has been useless at solving it. Their only answer is to do what we're already doing - have me as a co-host getting 100% of payout because my tax credentials didn't have any issues. The downside of this (along with the anxiety of not understanding why her tax information keeps getting rejected) is that our first payout is now stuck in limbo because it was before we set me to get 100% of the payout. Thank you again for your help but it seems like we're stuck until someone at AirBnB can figure out what's going wrong here.

[Joan2709]

@Eli33195 

A bit confused as you are showing as Host with your wife as Co-host?

Be sure your wife is showing as listing owner and her name and SSN EXACTLY match the IRS records.

[Eli33195]

She was originally listed as host with me as co-host but in our attempts to solve this we tried switching the order which didn't help at all. She's tried exactly as it's shown on our last tax return as well as a few other configurations and they've all been rejected. The support contact mentioned needing an EIN instead of a SSN which made me wonder if they have it on their end that she has a business instead of an individual/ sole proprietor. That being said this support person didn't seem to know what they were talking about so that could totally be bad information. I'll certainly report back here if we're ever able to figure it out.

[Joan2709]

@Eli33195 

Yup...that's messed up...I believe there is a question when creating the listing whether you are a professional host or not or something to that effect?