Occupancy Tax

[Robyn341]

Super frustrating.  AirBnb is collecting occupancy tax from my guests for the County of Sonoma.  I am in a city jurisdiction that only requires occupancy tax to be paid to the City of Santa Rosa (which I pay) and NOT the county.  It even states this on the AirBnb help page.  I am not able to speak to someone on the phone and they claim they can only communicate regarding this through email.  I am getting no where with "Arthur B".  

+Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in the unincorporated areas of Sonoma County, CA (does not include the incorporated cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma and Windsor) will pay the following tax as part of their reservation:

I can't seem to get him to understand.  When I call the customer service line, they can't help me.

[Linda108]

Hi @Robyn341   CS is not equipped at this time to deal with so many issues, but they have never been good about dealing with the Air BNB tax collection issues. Since the contract to do so is between Air BNB  and Sonoma County, perhaps if you file a complaint with the County, they can deal with this issue.  To collect a tax that is not applicable is against the law and the guests are witnesses to this rule breaking.  I think you could contact the County and use Twitter (emails and phone calls are useless at this time.) to contact Air BNB simultaneously warning of the taxation violation.  Good luck!!

[Dale781]

If it is like here in GA.  They have misrepresented the taxes they are collecting.

They are charging a total of 7%, 4% State, and 3% County/Local, which is correct, but they label it Occupancy Tax, when it is simply the correct sales tax.  You can add a tax to have them collect any occupancy tax that is required, and set the number of days that it becomes exempt.  They do not remit this true occupancy tax, they send it to you for you to remit to the city.  Check with your city, as normally you will need to register with them to get a certificate authorizing you to collect this tax.  It is a form to be submitted monthly in most areas, even if a zero report for the month.