Is Airbnb charging guests wrong room occupancy tax?

[Hulu0]

My airbnb listing is in Massachusetts. The MA's room occupancy tax is 5.7%

But Airbnb charges all guests with 13.35% room occupancy tax.

Why does Airbnb charge guests much higher room occupancy tax rate?

[Emiel1]

@Hulu0 

There are more taxes, they are listed up in this article:

Occupancy-tax-collection-and-remittance-by-airbnb-in-massachusetts

Your listing shows:

"Accommodations Tax (Dedham Township)

Room Occupancy Excise Tax (Massachusetts)"

[Rick-and-Deana0]

Emiel1

I have reviewed this article and shown it to the people here in Summit County Colorado and we are all 100% certain that AirBnB is taking more than double the amount of Occupancy Taxes from our guests are they are legally allowed to do.  I have exchanged over 15 emails with the AirBnB tax department and they are the most incompetent group I have ever worked with inside AirBnB. They simply look at my "address" and believe and assume (incorrectly) that I am in the city/town that the USPS has us use but we are not.  We are in an "unincorporated" part of the  "county" and are not required nor have we ever paid taxes to the town/city we are near.   So far I have not been helped at all from this department because they have not been willing to review the several documents I have sent to them proving this.

They have now stopped responding to me about this and I don't know how to proceed since there is no one outside of "basic customer service" that I can contact to discuss this matter.  AirBnB has been taking these additional and illegal and for that matter unwanted taxes on behalf of the town/city near us for years and it's time they stopped.

I really believe that it's in AirBnB's best interest to discuss this matter with me because I don't believe they are doing so intentionally and believe that they would stop immediately if they looked into my situation.

[Hulu0]

Thank you for your reply.

[Rick-and-Deana0]

I have the same thing going on at our place.  We are in an Unincorporated county area with NO town or city. The county manages all our needs.  But like many rural people in the US we are required to use the city or town closest to us in our address so the police and delivery people can find us. We don't even get mail at this address but you must have a town or city.

So since we use that city/town for our address BUT ARE NOT in that city/town AirBnB automatically is charging our guests the amounts charged for the city/town INSTEAD of what the County charges.  I have a license from the county. I have gps coordinate that will locate us outside of the city/town and yet after 15 emails through customer service they won't correct it.  I am now being completely ignored.

I am a long time (since it started) Super Host that loves AirBnB but this company has been stealing Occupancy tax money from our guests for many years and I can't get them to stop.  They are collection money for a town/city that does not want it from us and that knows we are not in their tax jurisdiction.

[Brenda328]

@Rick-and-Deana0   I have the same scenario with one of my properties and Airbnb has completely ignored my requests to fix this issue - and the dollars involved are not insignificant.  

[Pat8282]

I have a one bedroom AirBnB in my home in Nova Scotia. There is no agreement between AirBnB and Nova Scotia to collect any occupancy taxes here. When I question this $600 over-charge to guests since August 2022, I am given links to sites that discuss irrelevant issues that do not address my specific request that they stop doing this to my guests who rent the space. I am going to quit AirBnB April 1, 2023 even with reservations in place, if AirBnB does not remedy this. And I will report this to Revenue Canada and get legal advice and service to find out answers I am not able to get when I inquire or make a request, personally, related to the specifics of my AirBnB here in Lunenburg County in Nova Scotia. My local post office is in Hubbards, in another county two miles from my home, but even then no occupancy taxes are ever imposed on a one-bedroom operation. Until this tax imposition was illegally imposed on my business I was very happy and have been a superhost for years. This superhost is not happy now.