Any help with Sales and Occupancy Taxes in Washington?

[Scott15]

Does anyone have any experience with filing B&O Taxes in the State of Washington and reconciling Airbnb's collection and payment of Sales Tax and Occupancy Taxes. If I declare the income, they calculate the sales tax and occupancy taxes and and want payment.

Thank you

[Ronnie-And-Teresa0]

Yes, I am at the same point in filing my B&O tax. Did anyone find out how to deduct the local and transient tax? Thanks!

[Ronnie-And-Teresa0]

I called WA DOR, they said after taking the full gross earning deduction for state sales tax(under OTHER, with explanation that AirBnb has paid the tax) I should ignore screens asking for local and lodging tax, click next to the end. When you check for errors a warning pops up saying I owed Transient tax, AirBnb has paid this also. click OK submit return. Done.  Sheeesh!! 

[Linnea0]

I think airbnb should make this clear to us.

[Linnea0]

airbnb says (when you click on the question mark on Occupancy taxes) "collected from the guest and remitted to the taxing authority on your behalf"  How can we prove this, where is the paperwork, and does the state know that I, not airbnb has paid it?

[Willow3]

From the WA DOR website:

"

Airbnb to collect and send taxes on behalf of hosts

Effective October 15, 2015, Airbnb will collect and send the following taxes to the Department of Revenue (DOR) on behalf of Airbnb ‘hosts’ who use the website for short-term lodging sales:

• state and local retail sales tax
• special hotel/motel taxes
• convention and trade center taxes

(See Airbnb’s public policy statement for more information).

If a host made lodging sales before October 15, 2015, the host needs to collect and send all taxes to the department for that time period.

A host still needs to register with DOR to report their rental income on an excise tax return:

• The host reports all of their Airbnb rental income under all appropriate tax classifications – Retailing and Retail Sales Tax.
• The host can then claim a deduction under the Sales Tax classification. This deduction is equal to the rentals made through Airbnb as of October 15, 2015. The deduction is itemized under “Other” with an explanation that the sales and lodging taxes were collected and sent by Airbnb.

The host needs to pay any Retailing B&O tax due after taking the small business B&O tax credit, if applicable. The credit calculates automatically when the host electronically files."

 The last lines being of utmost importance here I think... 

[Willow3]

And this...

"Many property owners are now using online marketplaces to rent out their property. At least one of these marketplaces has entered into an agreement with DOR to collect and pay taxes due on short-term rentals on the property owner's behalf. When an online marketplace collects taxes on the property owner's behalf, the property owner must report the gross rental income under both Retailing B&O and Retail Sales Tax classifications. The owner is entitled to take under the retail sales tax classification a "99-other" deduction stating "sales tax remitted by agent." 

[DavidAndBecky0]

Greetings from Coupeville, WA.  

So this seems to be resolved. Yes you still must report and pay B&O taxes based on gross sales, but the exemption applies only to sales and lodging taxes.  It's just a matter of what step you enter it on the website.    Okay? 

Now there is another issue, that is related to this, that has to do with what records and documents you need to provide if you are ever audited.  My concluusion is that you need to have a copy of Airbnb's reseller permit based on what is quoted in this other thread at this link: 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Airbnb-s-reseller-permit-copy-needed/m-p/501067#M118201

So where can we obtain a copy of this permit?  

[Laura976]

@Scott0,

No longer a WA resisdent (from PT actually :0).) so I can't answer your question but I do want to encourage others to decalre their income.  Not declaring income has back fired on multiple friends.  Yes, you have to pay the taxes, but you can declare the income to buy more houses to bulid your Airbnb empire!

Cheers!

Laura

[Kerri36]

Any updates on this for 2018?

[Jon-and-Barb0]

Airbnb says we have to pay B&O. So, under B&O, I entered our gross sales for the quarter.
We are eligible for a Small Business Credit, so we ended up even.

Airbnb says they collected state and local retail sales tax.
Under Sales & Use, I took a deduction for my sales, selected “RST Collected by Facilitator” and entered my total sales as a deduction. There was no option for “Other” in the list.

Then I had to zero out the Taxable amount under Local Sales so that it balanced.

Then I submitted my return.

This is my first time using the new SAW system, so I’ll let you know if they kick it back to me.

(I hope this is helpful.)

[Judith131]

Go to the revenue office have them help you set up your form I had to do that then everything works after that!

[Adam845]

I am in WA state and I was also wondering how to file my state taxes. I called the DOR and the agent was very helpful. Suggestion #1 from me is to call the tax help line at 360-705-6705 and have them walk you through it. It was quick and simple, less than 10 minutes. I took some notes, but not good enough to list all of the steps here, so I'm not going to try to do that. 

Bottom line is that it was straightforward, and we entered the proper deductions so that I paid just B&O and did not pay the sales tax that Airbnb already paid. 

Good luck!

[Luay1 · Accepted solution]

I have no idea why no one has really written the steps on here. It's pretty simple and it's sad that no one is willing to spend 2 minutes to teach everyone else the simple steps.

Since Airbnb collects the taxes, we select:

Step 1: "Select Taxes"

Business and Occupation > Retailing

Sales and Use > Retail Sales

Location Based Taxes > Local City and/or County Sales Tax

Step 2: "Business and Occupation"

Enter the full gross amount you have in the Airbnb portal then click Next.

Step 3: "State Sales and Use"

The "Gross Amount" should be the exact same amount entered in step 2.

Then, click on "Add Deduction", select "Gross Sales Collected by Facilitator" and enter the same exact gross amount and click "Ok".

Step 4: "Local Sales"

Select the location if required and leave everything as is (0 taxable amount).

Step 5: "Summary"

Enter your details and leave the option for "Do you need to file a Buyers Sales and Use Preference Addendum?" as "NO"

Step 6: "Return Totals"

Submit!

[Jaylene1]

I am so grateful for this information!  Thank you for taking time to share!

[Ana-Lea0]

Thank you for doing these steps for us AirBnB host in WA.  Very very helpful.