Does Airbnb generate T4A's for hosts? If not, why not?

[Anne12492]

Hi there everyone. I'm a Canadian host who registered for HST last July. I was expecting to receive a T4A or similar official tax document from Airbnb to file with my tax return, but nothing has arrived. When I go to "tax documents" in my host section, there's nothing there. I'm in Nova Scotia, so I have to remit 15% HST on my listings since July 1, 2022. But how can I do so when I have no documentation from Airbnb to show my earnings and more importantly, the breakdown of tax charged to the guest? All I see on a few of my listings (not all), is an "occupancy tax" which Airbnb support insists is the HST (see chat below). How can it be, when the total "occupancy tax" only comes to $63.14?  Since July 1, I received payouts totalling $3331.95. At 15%, the HST should be $499.79, not $63.14. What is this tax, then? And without a T4A, how do I figure out how much HST I need to remit to the CRA? 

Here is the relevant excerpt of the recent chat transcript I had with Airbnb Support:

"I've provided my HST number to Airbnb, so I should be self-collecting. So, what is the Occupancy Tax that Airbnb is charging my guests (that I do not receive)? Is it a tax that Airbnb charges on reservations? If so, then I charge HST, that's a second tax, which is illegal. So I need to know exactly what is going on here.

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

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Anne12492 Airbnb and its tax collection appears to be somewhat of a nightmare. As you are responsible for the tax you surely should have seen how the payments to you over the last year compare to the listed prices. As a result you should be able to see what tax Airbnb has retained and what it has paid out to you. If not then pretend to be a guest booking your place and see if there are taxes charged or not.

[Anne12492]

OK, well I don't appear to be able to insert a screenshot here, which is inconvenient. But I did as you suggested, and found that Airbnb are charging guests $85 per night, no tax, plus an "Airbnb service fee" of $24, for a total cost to the guest of $194. No "occupancy tax" this time. So I assume this means that I am responsible for deducting the 15% HST from the net payout that I receive from Airbnb. Or, should it be deducted from the $85 that the guest pays? This is where it's so confusing. I don't receive the full $85, so how can I collect and remit the HST from money that I don't even get? 

When I looked back over last year's transactions, this "occupancy tax" seems to be quite random. Sometimes it was charged, sometimes not. For example, a booking in August (after I had registered for HST and informed Airbnb of my HST number) shows a booking of $150 ($75 x 2 nights) + $21.18 guest service fee, + occupancy taxes of $3.18. That's less than 3%, so it's definitely not the HST. If you read the chat transcript with the Airbnb Support person, they state that the occupancy tax IS the HST. So if Airbnb is charging an occupancy tax, and then I charge HST, that's a double tax, which is illegal. 

You say "As you are responsible for the tax you surely should have seen how the payments to you over the last year compare to the listed prices." Yes, of course I can read the payout statements and do the math. But none of this really answers my questions, which are these: What is the occupancy tax? Why is it charged on some bookings and not on others? And is Airbnb remitting this to the CRA as the HST on my bookings (as stated in the chat transcript)? As Airbnb does not break out the HST portion for the guest, and there's no facility to do so on the host side either, how are we supposed to inform the guests that their per night fee includes (or does not include, in which case how are we to collect it?) a 15% HST charge? 

I'm sure I'm not the only one wrestling with this. 

P.S. The CRA will NOT accept the vague "payout" statement provided by Airbnb. They require a proper invoice, that breaks out the 15% HST charged to the guest, and clearly shows on what portion of the per night fee that 15% was charged.