Hi @Sarah6773 ! I can see that French hosts are also becoming extremely frustrated, both those under the “micro-BIC regime”, where taxable income is calculated on gross revenue and actual expenses cannot be deducted, and those under the “reel regime”, who, although they can deduct expenses, will still face additional accounting complications.
Several hosts have pointed out that “the amount reported to the tax authorities has always been the gross amount” and that, since some social contributions are calculated on revenue, even if the Airbnb commission remains tax-deductible, shifting the commission entirely onto the host will still affect the calculation basis for other charges.
For private hosts, Italy is actually quite close to the French "micro-BIC system".
In fact, under the Italian “cedolare secca” (flat tax regime), taxation is calculated on the gross rental income and Airbnb commissions are not deductible. Under the ordinary income tax system (IRPEF) for rentals carried out by private individuals, there is also no possibility of deducting Airbnb commissions on an actual basis; only a 5% flat deduction is allowed.
The debate is not really about Airbnb’s right to change its business model. The issue is the tax consequences created by that change in countries where gross rental income is taxed without allowing the deduction of platform fees.
This is why many Italian hosts are watching what is happening in France very closely: the arguments being raised by French hosts about taxation on gross revenue are, at least for private hosts, very similar to those that can be made in Italy.
I have seen some hosts saying that there is no point in informing guests about the switch to the “Host-only fee” model because “guests don’t care anyway”. The comparison made is this: when we buy a bottle of ketchup at the supermarket, we are not interested in knowing how much the supermarket paid the distributor for it.
But this is not about a company’s internal costs. We are talking about a change that, both in Italy and France, will have a direct impact on the final price paid by the guest.
With the new model, in order to maintain the same level of sustainability for short-term rentals, an Italian host under the flat tax regime will need to increase prices by roughly 25% for the first property and around 37% from the second property onwards.
In practical terms: a night that currently costs €100 would need to rise to around €125 in the first case and around €137 in the second.
Do we really think that a 25% or 37% increase will go unnoticed by guests?
If a guest sees that John’s apartment has gone from €100 to €137 and nobody explains what has changed, there is a very good chance they will think that John simply increased his prices to make more money.
But that is not what is happening: John is not increasing his profit margin; he is only trying to keep it unchanged because Airbnb has decided to transfer the entire commission burden onto the host.
This is why, at least here in Italy, many hosts are considering involving guests in order to influence public perception of the change introduced by Airbnb.
A customer may or may not agree with the price increase, but at least they will have the information needed to understand that this is not an arbitrary price rise decided by the host. It is the result of a change introduced by Airbnb.
