Hello,
I have been hosting in Airbnb since September, 2023 (less than a year). We offer short-term stays only (less than 15 days) in a room in our house basement in Toronto.
Currently, my wife and I run this under our names (as in we are not a business in the eyes of the CRA), so we let Airbnb collect and remit GST/HST on our behalf. We are nowhere near of surpassing the $30K small supplier annual sales threshold, as we rent occasionally, so we do not foresee the need to apply for a GST/HST number.
In June of this year, my wife and I started a side hustle at home, where we registered our business using our home address. This business has nothing to do with Airbnb or short term stays. Since we just started this business and barely have had any sales, we do not have a GST/HST number yet for this venture either.
The questions we have:
1. Do the sales we make through our home-run business now have to be combined with the sales we make through Airbnb when assessing whether we surpass the $30K threshold to require a GST/HST number?
- If yes, does this mean we have to get two separate GST/HST numbers, one for the business and another for the Airbnb?
- If no, do we treat each revenue stream differently when trying to determine whether we have to get a GST/HST for each respective business?
2. Does it make a difference if I establish a legal Partnership with my wife to run the Airbnb business? Is this recommended to ensure that the revenue streams of each business are treated independently in the eyes of the CRA as opposed to have the Airbnb tied to our Individual names alone? I am worried that if we leave the Airbnb to our own names that the CRA will automatically associate that revenue stream to our side-business, which has nothing to do with the nature of short-term stays.
Any insight on this is appreciated to ensure we stay compliant with Airbnb!
Thanks
AJ
