During the process of renewing my Jersey City short-term rental permit, Jersey City demanded that I pay the 6% occupancy tax on my Airbnb bookings for the past year. This is about $3,600 in my case.
Airbnb collects the accommodation tax from my guests and is supposed to be remitting it to the city. (See the screen shot from my listing.) However, Jersey City states that Airbnb has not been paying it, and they even sent me several monthly tax filings from Airbnb showing Airbnb claiming to owe $0 in taxes. In other words, for at least these time periods, Airbnb was collecting the accommodation tax from my guests and then just keeping it.
Jersey City did show one filing from Airbnb (also attached) in which Airbnb made a tax payment of about $76,000. However, Airbnb did not provide any documentation about which units, reservations, or time period that that amount covered, so Jersey City says they cannot know whether the taxes for my unit have been paid or not.
I have sent messages to Airbnb about this. Airbnb initially sent me a message saying that I could see the amounts paid to JC in the my earnings report. But this is not true, I can only see the total amount collected from guests for all taxes; there is no indication how much was paid to JC or when it was paid. Airbnb asked for additional documentation showing the JC tax was not paid. I sent them the copy of their own filing showing $0 paid. Airbnb then just replied with the exact same pat response about checking the earnings report.
Obviously this is a dispute between Jersey City and Airbnb. Airbnb is supposed to be collecting and remitting the tax. Jersey City wants the taxes paid on time and wants details about which units are covered so they can match with their STRP records. But Airbnb can't be bothered to either remit the taxes or provide the details that JC needs, so JC is going after the hosts for the money because that's easier than chasing Airbnb.
It's unconscionable for Airbnb to take money from my guests and then fail to remit it to Jersey City, leaving me with a $3,600 bill that I have to pay on my own.
Shame on you, Airbnb.
**[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]