National Insurance number

[Carmen802]

Hiya community,

I have recently been asked for my national insurance number from airbnb. I asked what this is for as they are not my employer; they have been unable to tell me to date. Can anyone shed some light on the matter please? I imagine, if I do not give it, I will not get bookings but I feel they shouldn't least explain what they are going to do with my number.

[Julie6183]

Hi Carmen, yes I saw this message too and felt slightly uneasy about sharing this information with no clear explanation, however, after looking at the notes it does say you may be removed from airbnb and not receive any bookings if you fail to share the information.

In the UK, we have the Rent a Room scheme (you may already know this) which currently allows you to earn up to £7,500 tax free if you let a furnished room in your house (it only applies to rooms, which are part of your home). I am currently operating under this as I do not intend to earn more than that from my letting in this current tax year. If you go over this threshold you must declare it and do a self-assessment (tax return).  I understand that Airbnb is allowing many people to earn additional income to their normal everyday jobs and I suspect that governments worldwide now want to be sure that all due taxes are being paid and one way for them to do this is collect data through Airbnb rather than relying on individuals to regulate themselves. I am going to speak directly to the support team and then will share the required information with them. I'm sorry if this doesn't answer your question but sharing thoughts can sometimes be helpful. All the best.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Julie6183 @Carmen802 Airbnb is required to send income information to HMRC each year. There is no problem with this at all as long as you are properly declaring your income to HMRC. There are things to watch though as I believe there will be timing issues as to what income falls in what year and also Airbnb will probably declare the gross income (including guest fees and cancelled reservations) and you may have to then increase the expenses deduction accordingly. 

[Oz15]

I always understood it to be that if you didn't need to declare your Rent a Room income as it was under the threshold, then you would just carry on as normal and not need to inform HMRC of anything.  I thought only let them know if you had earnings that tax needed to be paid on. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Oz15 You are correct - Just because Airbnb sends data to HMRC it doesn't mean they will do anything with it. What I don't know is how HMRC (and you) should deal with the Airbnb commission. Its easy for us because we just add it to the amount we receive and deduct it again as a cost. Obviously doesnt work for rent a room scheme as you can't deduct costs!

[Carmen802]

@Julie6183 You have been very helpful.  I spoke to the support team and they did not know how NI was going to be used. 

I am contacting the Tax office myself as I need clarity as Airbnb r not my employers hence my concern re giving my NI over.

If u can get a clearer explanation from them, pls let me know.

Thank you

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Carmen802 You also give your NI number to banks so they can deal with money laundering checks  and tax etc. They are not your employer either so the employer statement is a red herring.

[Julie6183]

Hi Carmen,

I have been doing a little bit of reading and I think HMRC are now looking to ensure that all due taxes have been paid as there is the possibility that in the past people were not declaring all their additional income from airbnb - I found this article https://www.iab.org.uk/hmrc-crackdown-on-airbnb-tax-evasion-how-could-it-affect-some-hosts/

I suspect, as I mentioned previously, that Airbnb are required to provide tax information to HMRC to ensure that everyone who is benefiting from letting out rooms in their home are compliant.

[Paula]

Hello @Carmen802, welcome to our community 😊

There are many great suggestions from our Hosts in this thread ✌️. If you find any of their answers particularly useful, please don't hesitate to mark it as the best answer. You can do this by clicking the button below the comment as shown in the following image:

This will help future Hosts with similar questions easily find this conversation.

All the best.

[Mary6666]

Hello @Julie6183 

Can i just say thank you to everyone for this discussion. I am retired and for extra income decided to operate the uk rent a room scheme, I fill in an annual tax return scheme & this is all new to me. Do you think I should provide airbnb with my N.I no or will information  they send to the Inland Revenue mess up my personal tax return?

If anyone can help with my query I'd appreciate it. Thank you

Mary

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Mary6666 Nothing Airbnb sends to HMRC will affect your personal tax return as long as you are declaring all your income. In fact I don't believe you even need to declare rent a room income if it is under the 7500 limit.

[Mary6666]

Thank you,.  I do declare everything but as my rent a room is and will be under the 7500 I wasn't going to declare that. Presumably airbnb won't be aware that my letting is rent a room and won't differentiate, so  if they inform HMRC of my earnings I will have to explain to HMRC the 'type' of letting. I was hoping to avoid creating an unnecessary communication with tax office but maybe this can't be avoided. 

Thank you again

[Carmen802]

You share my sentiments which os why I started this post.

I spoke to YK inland revenue& they could not understand why I needed to give airbnb my NI number.

I am still waiting for airbnb to explain what they will do with my number. Someone who responded to my post said that it relates to new laws but I can't find the laws anywhere-I will keep looking.  I do vaguely recall an announcement from airbnb about this but cannot find it now.

[Julie6183]

Hi @Mary6666 if you live and operate your airbnb in the UK you can earn up to £7500 tax free from it in a single tax year and do not have to declare it. However, you cannot claim any expenses back on this figure either. Please be aware that if you share your income with a partner/relative or friend the amount you earn tax free  drops to £3750 each. Sharing your national insurance number with Airbnb should not affect your tax return, as far as I am aware. Hope this helps. 🙂

[Helen3]

Hi @Carmen802 its to comply with new UK legislation that says digital companies need to share this information with the HMRC