Sonoma county TOT tax collection

[Lucy0]

Hey guys. I'm planning to rent my home in an unincorporated area of Sonoma county sporadically while I travel in 2016, so am in the process of registering with the county for TOT tax collection and a permit. There is at least one aspect of the TOT tax collection it doesn't appear that we can conform to, namely Sec 12-13 (copied below). I was wondering how other hosts are dealing with this issue?

 "The amount of tax shall be separately stated from the amount of the rent charged, and each transient shall receive a receipt for payment from the Operator. No Operator of a lodging shall advertise or state in any manner, whether directly or indirectly, that the tax or any part thereof will be assumed or absorbed by the Operator, or that it will not be added to the rent, or that, if added, any part will be refunded except in the manner provided by this article."

[Amy38]

I let the guest know in my listing that I must collect tax.  Then I email them closer to their date the amount and collect it when they arrive, check, cash or charge...I use a Square which is a pain to me....I am old.

possibly you could request a check and the person greeting them could collect it.  If you want them to prepay, I would use Paypal, much easier and no one has your bank info. Just have them tell paypal it is a personal transfer and there is no charge.

[Marci0]

Sonoma County, CA is now cracking down and enforcing codes through the recently voted in higher TOT tax.  The money goes into enforcement and sends letters and information to any property within 300' of your Air BnB. This sets up the neighbors to complain if there's more than X # of people, cars, a radio, noise (even only voices) between 10PM and 7AM.  It also includes rules for BBQ, fire pits, and more. Now as a host, I have to be 24/7 within a close distance to property and respond within 1/2 - 1 hr based on the complain. 3 complaints and you may be in violation as AirBnB. I don't know how to get guests to understand how crititcal these new rules are. AirBnB is now collecting the taxes for unincorporated Sonoma County which then makes it easy for the county to check your zoning, your TOT certificate, you have to get a building permit now, and finally take a host exam and pay a fee to become a certified host before 2018.

[Johnny38]

is there a way to print ou the 'date a guest -made their booking' - not the dates they stayed

[Rebecca160]

I am in New Mexico, where I have to pay Gross Receipts Tax on my rental. This is separate from the resort tax collected by Airbnb and paid to my city. Not sure, but I think the GRT is similar to your TOT. What I do , is include the tax rate in the room and then back it out. Tax department is quite happy with this. You might check if you can do this in CA, too. Much easier than trying to get more money out of the guest. Of course, my room rate does appear a tiny bit higher than similar rooms in my area, but it has not affected renting it out at all.

[Stacey1]

Hi AirBB hosts,

I'm putting my home back on the short term market after renting to a family who lost their home in the fires. I'm back to the AirBB tax hassle - they do not collect the TOT for my listing which is in the unincorporated part of Sonoma County. This is the unhelpful help area:

Sonoma County

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:

• Transient Occupancy Tax: 12% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 30 nights and shorter. For detailed information, please visit the Sonoma County Transient Occupancy Taxwebsite.

Has anyone figured out a way to charge a guest the 12% TOT so that it looks legit? Adding a "special clause" does not seem like the right way to go. VRBO has figured this out, I'm not sure why 2 yrs later AirB still has not figured out that owners need to determine their correct tax in their regions. Please do share your learnings? AirBB is more of a hassle!

thanks, Stacey

[Christine442]

I have the same question for City of Santa Rosa.  I've found conflicting information on Airbnb site; one place says that Airbnb collects and remits taxes for Sonoma County, but another page says it's only for unincorporated areas...confusing, and also doesn't help me know if taxes have been collected for my listing.  Wondering how other hosts handle this without getting into tax trouble with the City of Santa Rosa.  I want to follow the rules, but it's confusing.

[Michael97]

We need to keep after AirBnB to add a Tax button.  It is a very simple add to the website.  My home is in the town of Sonoma which charges 14% and AirBnB

 states on their website that THEY are collecting and paying the tax for the host, but they don’t.  So I have to include the tax in the advertised rental price per night.  The only reason I can think of as to why AirBnB won’t put a tax button on the website is greed!  By keeping the fees lumped together, AirBnB collects their fee on both the rental fee and the 14% tax.  A practice I’m not sure is legal.  I have requested AirBnB change this process every year and nothing has happened.  

We hosts need to keep up the pressure on AirBnB until a tax button is added to the website so host can reflect the true rental price and the guest gets the transparency they deserve.

[Marci0]

Hi all,

I am a host in both Bloomfield and Occidental unincorporated areas of Sonoma county.  AirBnB does collect the TOT tax and submit it directly to the county.  All I have to do is fill out the tax form with no check attached as it is paid.  You print out a form you make on AirBnB and submit that with the tax form.

Since I haven't done the taxes yet for 3/31/19 quarter, maybe I am in for a surprise if AirBnB stopped doing it. Marci

[Marci0]

Hi again, Here is how to download the TOT information.  It didn't seem to be on my phone ap but only on my laptop.

1-Go to AirBnB application on laptop

2-Be in Host mode, not travel mode

3-Go to your profile photo on upper right corner, click to get pull down menu

4-Click on transaction history

5-Under title of Transaction history, you can select 3 types of reports

6-Click on the 3rd to the right: Gross earnings

7-Select the begining date such as Jan 19

8-Select the ending date such as Mar 19

9-Make sure the year button is 19 or what year you want

10-Directly below the year button, click download on the CVS button

11-The file downloads, either open it as Excel or save as file.

12-When the file is open, look at the header row and the column all the way to the right is the transient tax row.

13-It lists by reservation how much tax was collected each guest's reservation.

14-You format and print this report and turn it in with the Sonoma County Transient Occupancy Tax Return

I haven't seen anywhere else on the website where it shows this TOT tax collected for each guest. I don't know what the guest sees.

Hope this helps. Marci

[Tom162]

This was very helpful!  Thank you so much.  Although the VRBO system isn’t quite there yet, they recently initiated a similar feature.

For VRBO:  Go to Reservation Manager

then select Financial Reporting and put in your desired date range.  It also shows the Gross Bookings but not the taxes that were collected.   

[Christine442]

Hi Marci - this helps a great deal!  Unfortunately, however, when I downloaded the file, it shows all $0 for tax collected.  I'm in the City of Santa Rosa  (not in unincorporated).  I'm not sure why it's so difficult - Airbnb doesn't provide a drop down space to collect taxes and using the resolution center doesn't guarantee that guests remit taxes, yet the City seems to require that the taxes are visible and NOT part of room rate?  I want to follow the rules, but it's really confusing.  Do you have any leads for a (USA) airbnb person to speak with about this?  The call centers don't have the information, and it's just frustrating to call Airbnb and then be routed to overseees; it's not their fault, but still not helpful.

[Marci0]

Hi, I am in the unincorporated area of SoCo. I would contact AirBnB and keep going up the chain until you get an answer as it's a tax liability for you would be my guess. If thats not satisfactory, I would twitter or write letter to headquarters in SF.  I think they should have a tutorial or samples of how to input it and what it looks like to a guest.  Should it be like a cleaning fee where its a separate line item that is added so the guest can clearly see it?

I would also call SoCo TOT people to find out what arrangement and location(s) they have with AirBnB.  Can it be that you remit the tax to Santa Rosa or SoCo? I wonder how other cities are handling this?

I have contacted AirBnB usually on laptop so I have a record of it for myself (not by calling).  I would just keep asking to speak to their Supervisor and not take no for an answer.

I don't know how the TOT shows for my guests. It's tempting for me to make a local reservation and see what it shows me. Keep us posted.