Hawaii Taxes 2021??

[Lexi775]

Aloha!

Trying to set up our tax options on our listing, and I see that in some places AirBnB collects taxes and in other places it doesn't.

Do they collect in Hawaii (Big Island)?

If not, which kinds of tax do I need to collect and what percent? I've heard GET and TAT for a total of approx. 15%, but want to make sure that's correct.

Thank you in advance! 

[Emiel1]

@Lexi775 

Regarding your first question:

Hawaii is not listed in this article and your listing also shows Airbnb is not charging taxes (when simulating a booking).

[Pat271]

I add the GET and TAT taxes to the guest charges. You can do this if you are using the Airbnb Professional Tools (a field is added for taxes).  Airbnb does not collect or remit these taxes on its own.

I collect 14.25% for TAT and 4.166 for the GET (to account for the weird rule of having to pay taxes on the GET). I then pay the taxes to the State of Hawaii every month.

By the way, the GET and TAT taxes apply to cleaning fees, as well as the base room charges.

[Lexi775]

Thank you for the help! Curious why you collect 14.25 instead of 10.25 for the TAT, maybe I'm reading the wrong info elsewhere... When setting the option for tax on the listing, do you do it per booking, per guest, per night? Not sure what's best

[Pat271]

Sorry @Lexi775, I meant 10.25, typo. @Nick, I don’t seem to have the option today to edit my post, so I can’t fix it.

I choose the “per booking” option for the taxes.

[Lexi775]

 Awesome, thank you so much for your help !

[Kimo19]

Aloha, I have a question on what the tax is based on. Is based on the gross amount paid by the guest (room charge and cleaning) or based on the GROSS revenue I receive as a host? Much aloha and thanks, Kimo

[Pat271]

@Kimo19 It’s on the room charge and cleaning paid by the guest. The GET and TAT taxes are actually guest taxes; we are just passing them on to the government.

Under what conditions would a host not receive the total room charge and cleaning paid by the guest? I assume you know that if you pay a housekeeper, that is an expense - it is not subtracted from the gross revenue for accommodations sales tax purposes.

[Nicki116]

Hawaii is increasing the TAT an additional 3% as of 10/1/2021.

[Joanne686]

@Nicki116

You do not have to add this on if the bookings were before Sept 15, 2021

[Nicki116]

On Maui the state collects and in effect for all income reported after 10/1/21, regardless of whether it is a prior booking. It’s all about when you recognize income.

[Cindi3]

That is contrary to what the law says.  It specifically says it doesn't matter when they booked and paid.

[Pat271]

@Nicki116  Actually, there is a written explanation in the MCTAT documents that if you did not inform the guest in writing that the guest is responsible for any tax increases occurring after booking, the guest does not have to pay the increase, and therefore your MCTAT payments to the government do not include taxes from those guests. 

[Nicki116]

We have always had the statement that the guest is responsible for any tax increases in our rental agreement.

MCTAT is checked against HI TAT income amounts. I have no interest in reporting different amounts and being questioned.

[Pat271]

@Nicki116  Ah, ok. I don’t have stipulated that the guest needs to pay more taxes, above and beyond what they’ve already paid, if taxes go up between booking and check-in. I don’t mind being questioned by the government about reporting different gross revenues for TAT and MCTAT, since this is Maui County’s rule to begin with, and I can easily show them both my spreadsheet showing each guest’s booking date, taxes paid, etc. and the county’s online document explaining these rules.

So, do you go after your guests for the extra taxes, or just eat them yourself?