Airbnb collecting State Occupancy Taxes but not paying to the state

[Kimberly718]

Has anyone had issues with Airbnb collecting state occupancy taxes from guests and not actually paying them to the state? I received a notice from the state despite providing Airbnb with all of my tax information that the state had not received my occupancy taxes which Airbnb claims to have been collecting. Where has that money gone? Of course no way to speak with a knowledgeable rep at Airbnb only robots and instant message exchanges which lead nowhere. I am now being charged a penalty from the state for late payments. 

[Kimberly718]

Thanks Linda, good info. I am awaiting a call back from Airbnb. I do of course have a full record of what was collected by Airbnb just trying to understand how they are paying state occupancy taxes. Seems odd they would request state registration numbers and then send in a lump of money without specific allocation to a tax ID. I will share once I hear from them and get to the bottom of this. 

[David-And-Kevin0]

It seems the collecting of taxes and remitting them to the government or to the host depends on one of two things: 1) Does the government require Airbnb to remit taxes to them, and/or 2) how much revenue does a host earn annually from Airbnb.  I can easily see that Airbnb collects the two Hawaii taxes that we have programmed, and we receive the taxes in our payout for each guest.

Am I missing something?

[Kimberly718]

It differs from state to state. My question was really more about the wording that Airbnb has under the tax section which the agent I corresponded with did agree was nebulous "we collect occupancy taxes and remit them on your behalf". My Inn is in CT and is a state that charges an occupancy tax. What happened is that many Airbnb owners are simply homeowners trying to make some extra money and not necessarily professional hosts so occupancy taxes were not being collected and paid to the states. With a surge in Airbnb's and decline in hotel bookings states were not seeing the revenue as they had via the collection of occupancy taxes, that said Airbnb now collects and remits in one lump sum as Lisa indicated. The problem is that the wording they have doesn't clearly indicate that which it should. I called my state tax revenue rep and he said to simply file monthly as $0. 

[Debbie217]

So @Kimberly718  was Lisa correct in that it is reported as a lump sum (not under your business). Going forward do you file monthly $0 since the lump sum was paid?  I just am educating myself since I am new to this.  How does local city get their occupancy taxes paid - the same way in a lump sum?

[Skip33]

I have a chat going right now about this.

answers received: 

As for this one, Skip, I am afraid that Airbnb is unable to provide tax advice for this matter or act as an accountant. But rest assured that the taxes that you will see on your Transaction History, it is all being paid to the State on your behalf.

On each reservation, you will see an indication of "Occupancy Taxes" along with its respective tax amount. From there, you will see the amount collected from the guest and remitted to taxing authorities on your behalf, Skip.

**

Is there a way to opt out of AIRBNB sending the money to authorities?

**[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Ava1111]

Yea and when asked they give me a dissertation but never any information on what they paid on my behalf. 
its as if they think this is optional and we have to pay and they keep the money collected. 

[Megan1358]

Curious, I was wondering how this ended up for you Kimberly178? AirBnB recently starting automatically collecting and remitting occupancy tax for my listings. When I was doing my quarterly form for the county and combing through things in detail, I realized AirBnB is taking the proper 3% from my guests but remitting less than 3%. It seems as though they're keeping some of the money. I've been in contact with Support over and over and over and am not getting anywhere for a resolution.

[Rebecca]

Hi @Megan1358 👋

A huge welcome to the Community Center! It's great to have you here with us. 
 
It's lovely to see you joining in conversations already. I just wanted to pop by and share that if you type "@" and then the username, this will tag the member that you're replying to. This ensures that they get a notification that you've replied to them specifically 🤗

For example if I type '@' I get the drop down menu and I can select @Kimberly718 to ensure she see's your reply. See the image below 

I hope this helps to keep the conversation flowing, and if you've got any questions, just ask. Have a wonderful day! 🌼

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Kimberly718 

If Airbnb states they will collect and pay the taxes in your jurisdiction (you should see that on each reservation), they pay them in one lump sum for all Hosts in that jurisdiction to the taxing authorities involved. However, some states still require the individual Airbnb owner to file a tax report that states they don't owe any taxes, as Airbnb pays them directly to the taxing authority. How often you have to file the report depends on the taxing authority. For some states/jurisdictions its monthly, others quarterly, etc.

[Kimberly718]

This was from 2021, already answered. 

[Rebecca]

Hi @Kimberly718 👋

Thanks so much for popping back. Were any of the answers on this thread supportive in finding your answer back in 2021? If so, you could 'Mark as Best Answer' and it'll help other  Hosts in the future too. 

Thanks so much in advance, 
Rebecca 🦋

[Debbie217]

@Joan2709 thanks for the reply. I am following this thread and educating my self as I am new to listing in WV.  I am hearing repeatedly that the tax is paid in one lump sum by airbnb which makes sense.  I know my city of Morgantown requires hotel occupancy taxes so does airbnb pay them to the local in one lump sum as well as to the state in one lump sum?  then do I just report $0 on my monthly forms (I have not gotten them yet since I have only had 3 reservations so far only been listing for one week)

[Michelle1096]

@Debbie217 I'm also in WV, in Berkeley Springs (Morgan County). The local tax office told me that what Airbnb does is pays alllllll the taxes for allllll Airbnb STRs in a lump sum to the county or state without saying what came from where (like @Joan2709

said). So we as owners are then responsible for reporting what proportion of that lump sum is ours.

In Morgan Co, we have to fill out this paper form every month to say what our gross earnings are from Airbnb--you can get this off of Airbnb's earnings reports. Then we have to report what the taxes are on those earnings and put that on the form as well. Then send it in. 

I'm not sure how Airbnb gets to do this, but I guess the info Airbnb gives us as transaction records -- and whatever we report to WV and the county -- are the paper trail.

Good luck!

[Debbie217]

I was told by my city that Airbnb does pay it all in a lump sum and I don’t have to pay. However what you are saying sounds like what is required by our state?  I’m just confused because if Airbnb is already collecting and paying then why do we need to do additional work/ taxes?

[Debbie217]

@Michelle1096 I was told by my city that Airbnb does pay it all in a lump sum and I don’t have to pay. However what you are saying sounds like what is required by our state?  I’m just confused because if Airbnb is already collecting and paying then why do we need to do additional work/ taxes?