How to collect the 13% Costa Rican tax?

[Chuck1]

Is there a better way to collect the Costa Rican 13% occupancy tax other than by inflating the villa's daily rate? I think my place is at a disadvantage relative to other properties because I am adding the tax to the daily rate.

What has your experience been?

Chuck **

Dominical, Puntarenas, Costa Rica (property location)

[Jeff-And-Cheryl0]

Yes, Airbnb does in in Amsterdam it comes under the line  "Occupancy Taxes" - Airbnb is probably slow to bring this function to CR as they dont want to see prices go up 13%.  

[Amy38]

Ask the guest to bring a check

get a free Square so they can charge it

or best

Send a payment request thru Abnb which is put on their card and sent to you a amount separate from rental fees.

I mention the tax twice in my property description so it comes as no surprise to the guest.  Incorporating it into the nighrly fee would not only make your rental expensive bit then you would have pay income tax on the tax as charges are not separated out.

[Jeff-And-Cheryl0]

As a 50 plus stay guest I do not want to have extra payments outside the Airbnb Platform to happen.  I don't want to exchange cash or write a check.  Airbnb collects "Occupancy Taxes" in many areas (Example- Amsterdam) and its on a seperate line - easy for a guest to see what the total bill is versus depending on reading it in a description.  I don't know - but from a Host side I would hope it made it easy for the Host too --- not having cash and checks around to get lost, stolen, misplaced and to electronically keep all organized.

Airbnb needs to get going on that feature for Costa Rica - as we spent 3 months there last year and hated the process of exchanging cash - and some hosts did it and some didnt.  

[Dawn162]

Airbnb collects Occupancy Taxes for Florida properties.  They do not collect the sales tax nor the tourist development taxes.  There are other taxes that are associated with each county.  Our taxes just for 'hotel' can be between 11 - 13%.  Airbnb is collection 6% in my county.  Florida is crazy when it comes to taxes.  We do not have state taxes, to the taxes are passed onto the tourist.

[Alan91]

I am one of the hosts who prefers not to have double payments for guests.  Yes.  AirBNB should have it on a separate line.  This thread has been up for a couple of years, and AirBNB has never responded.  I wish they would.

[Laurel18]

My question is this. If AirBNB is collecting 13% sales tax for houses in Costa Rica, why do I have to report it and charge 13% sales tax. Is Airbnb paying Costa Rica the sales tax they collect? If so, why do we have to report it all if CR is getting their money? Now if AirBNB is reporting our income then we should report it and pay the tax. 

[Lori-and-James0]

I don’t see how or where AirBnB already takes this 13% tax. My question is, as a host.. since this 13% IVA tax will be inforced starting July 1,2019.. do we charge them through AirBnB as part of the rate, or maybe separately upon checking in to keep it separate. If we include it in the rate, we can be taxed additionally on the income and our rate becomes less competitive with other Airbnb’s in the area. 

[Anna8007]

I recently booked a place in Manuel Antonio that informed me about paying the tax upon my arrival only after I booked. No where on the booking page was this advertised and it was not listed as an additional cost nor was it listed on my receipt after booking. From what I read online, the regulation for this tax is not law yet; is this true? has the Bill been passed by the CR government? See this article dated September 19, 2019: https://costaricalaw.com/uncategorized/costa-rica-taxes-and-regulates-airbnb/

This needs to be clearly aware to the person booking prior to booking.

[Rocky58]

It’s now 2022 and this is still not resolved. https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/318/taxes-for-guests