airbnb collection of taxes in warren county NY (Chestertown)

[Jerry666]

Hi all

i have a house in Chestertown, NY (warren county) and I'm concerned airbnb is collecting enough taxes.

this is my first go at STR. i know have 4 bookings.

warren county has a 4% occupancy tax (bed tax) and i need to find the exact state tax responsibility.

the tax shown on my listing are roughly 7% (this is what airbnb has applied).

i cant adjust it.

calling them doesn't prove to be very informative. Ive called twice and neither of the people i spoke to could tell exactly how the tax amount was broken down ( % for occupancy/bed tax, % to state, % to other....).

i look at other properties in Chestertown and some house collect as much as 10% Tax.

any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

thanks in advance

[Joan2709]

@Jerry666 

Ahh...taxes. What a pain!

Just FYI…looks like the town of Chester Town requires a short term rental permit? Did you get that?

Short Term Rental Permit – Chester Town

https://www.townofchesterny.org/planning-zoning/page/str-permit-applications-being-accepted-starting...

Taxes

From what I found Airbnb is only collecting the sales tax for New York State and Warren County on your listing. Airbnb only discloses the name of the jurisdictions they collect for, but won’t disclose percentages. I don’t know why, as they obviously know them in order to calculate taxes on reservations.

Airbnb Taxes – New York

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2319

Here is what it looks like you should be collecting (you will need to verify with Warren County):

• New York State sales tax rate: 4.0%.
• Warren County sales tax rate: 3.0%
• Warren County Occupancy tax rate: 4%
• Tax total on reservations: 11%

Warren County Occupancy Tax

https://www.warrencountyny.gov/Treasurer/STRBT#:~:text=Short%2DTerm%20Rental%20Owners%20Must,Certifi...

You can turn on Professional Hosting Tools to see if Airbnb will allow you to add a Custom Tax to your listing. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t; it depends on the agreements they have with the tax jurisdictions.

Professional Hosting Tools

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2499

If Airbnb doesn’t allow a custom tax, then it is up to you to collect the tax directly from guests using the resolution center. You would need to disclose this on the listing and message the guests regarding this tax collection. Then you would pay Warren County the tax according to their schedule for payments. Please note that if you don’t collect the tax from each guest, you are still responsible for paying the tax.

[Jerry666]

thanks much!

i spoke to warren county yesterday and they confirmed 11% and that is on cost of rental, guest fee's and cleaning fee's.

thanks for the info!!!!

i have another email out to airbnb to make the change but i will try the pro hosting.

thanks again

[Joan2709]

@Jerry666 

Glad that helped! Aren't taxes fun 🙄 

Some jurisdictions include the Airbnb Guest Service Fee as part of the calculation for sales tax. You'll have to verify that with the jurisdictions.

For occupancy tax, usually it's just nightly rate, cleaning fee, other fees. 

You can do the math and figure out if the calculations work out.

Here is a breakdown example I did for another Host in a different state that also has sales tax and occupancy taxes.

[Jerry666]

thanks again Joan. its great information. 

i am working with airbnb to get the occupancy tax collected. over the weekend they had me send my STR permit form Warrensburg (chestertown) and my occupancy permit from warren county. hopefully they will be able to correct it. 

the communication can be challenging. Now we are emailing.

thanks again for taking the time to lay it all out as you did!!!!

now all we need is good weather!!!

[Jerry666]

Hi again,

I switched to pro over the weekend but I still couldn't get into taxes, to make changes myself.

I did email my permits to them over the weekend. 

I had another reservation come in so I called airbnb yesterday to make sure they were still looking into it and would make the correction on tax collection quickly.

when I had the guy on the phone we went to editor and now I could revise my taxes manually on my end.

I added the certificate of occupancy 4 digit number and it allowed me to add the 4%.

it goes in as a custom tax.

I did it as a lodging tax (is that correct?)

and as a percentage of booking

thanks Joan and

 all for the help  

[Joan2709]

@Jerry666 

The options for naming a Custom tax will vary by what the local jurisdictions call them. Some call them Hotel Tax, Transient Occupancy Tax, Lodging Tax, Room Tax, etc. Any of those will work as they basically are the same thing.

Percentage by booking is correct.

[Robert9232]

It’s definitely confusing at first. Airbnb usually handles state and local taxes automatically, but they don’t always break it down clearly. Warren County’s 4% bed tax should be included, but it’s worth checking with the county directly to confirm if Airbnb is remitting it for you. Some hosts report different rates based on settings or listing details, so you’re not alone.