GST tax in Canada

[Brock18]

Hi,

Does anyone know how to add the GST/HST to the listings?  I can't find a box to add this and they have it in Homeaway.  Am I supposed to increase my rates and then file myself?

[Dave264]

It isn't setup on airbnb - you are technically supposed to ask for the tax payment as a one time fee, or request cash payment on arrival.  Not ideal by any means (which is why we are working carefully to stay under $30k).

Note, many people are 'cheating' and just charging more and subtracting the GST out of their revenue (ie $150/night, but then claim revenue of $142.86 + $7.14 GST) - they will ding you if they ever audit - they will use the full $150 as your revenue and expect collection of $7.50 GST.  So your GST # is out, and there is $7.14 of unreported revenue they aren't getting their income tax on!

Personally, we decided best way to deal with it would have been to pay the GST ourselves (vs risking alot of annoyed guests!)  Only problem was with the additional taxes, and extra utilities with the additional stays, it was hard to justify unless we made at least $35k.  Just not worth it - so I just keep a rolling quarterly calendar and block off as I run out of space under $30k.  Also factor in that cleaning fees have to be included in the $30k calc (overall revenue).  I disagree with this, but have asked my accountant and another accountant and that is how it has to be filed.  Kinda lame!

Question to you - I also wondered about homeaway/dual listing, but I assume they are not filing the PST/MRDT for you while Airbnb does...is that correct?  That was a turnoff for me!

[Sepideh8]

Checking in on this topic to see if you have found a better solution.

It is not only if the rental is making more than 30K.  If you are self-employed with a GST number, you are supposed to collect GST, even if the rental alone is not making 30K.

[Peter1777]

Having the same issue... not sure why AirBnB doesn't add a GST entry like VRBO... would make life so much easier.  

So if the nightly rate is $100, we should charge $100  + $5  GST.   I am adding a note on the listing stating that the nightly rate and the cleaning fee includes 5% GST and am putting our GST number on the note as well.  Hopefully that satisfies CRA.

Thoughts?

[Brock18]

We need to put more of a push back to AirBNB on this issue.  They do add hotel/accommodation tax in certain areas.  Plus in the USA they take the sales tax and remit for all people who book.  That would ensure everyone is on an even playing field and that the government gets the revenues that are appropriate.  Everyone that doesn't file for GST because their revenues are below $30,000 per year are technically offside and just avoiding taxes.  Of course they would probably never be audited but it is similar to waiters and hairdressers not claim full amount of their tips as income.  Since AirBNB is becoming a political issue it would help if AirBNB remitted for all of us so they could ensure to the governments at all levels that taxes are not being avoided by some.

[Catherine176]

I am finding this problematic as I do not have a GST and as I only have One Airbnb rental, I do not see the need to get one.

From what I have been reading on line it would seem that VRBO and HomeStay are approaching this differently. 

All in all this is very confusing. 

[NavHundal0]

Further info I just received:

1. A special offer allows you to set a custom price for a guest who sends you a booking inquiry. Please see link below to know about special offers.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1349

2. The Resolution Center lets you request or send money for things related to your Airbnb trip. To open a refund or payment request, go to www.airbnb.com/resolutions.

[Catherine-and-Max1]

I have experienced the same dilemma about the lack of a clear way to remit GST/PST taxes on AirBNB - in contrast to a simple click set-up on VRBO. I have sent in a ticket to Airbnb asking for this issue to be addressed. Apparently the department that deals with taxes is not reachable by phone. but the help line can create a ticket that gets answered by email within a week.

Will report back if anything useful comes of this.

[Don4011]

Anything useful back from Air BNB on this issue - we are venturing down this road now.

[Deborah950]

You add a Community Fee of 5% to the listing and Airbnb collects it and pays it out to you with your payment. You then have to set that amount aside and remit it to Revenue Canada.

I have not had any problems with this and have not had any guest complaints about the extra fee.

I have a note in the listing explaining that I have to collect GST and remit the GST to the government.

I had no problem setting up the GST account with Revenue Canada either, and Airbnb was very helpful when I called to figure out how to charge and collect the taxes.

[Naomi400]

@Brock18 You can add GST/HST when you go to edit your individual listing. Under pricing and availability there is a Tax section.

[Susan634]

This to anyone who can answer.  I rent my cottage out seasonally so I only make about $10,000 or so a year.  I claim that on my taxes so I am trying to be as transparent and honest as I can.  I do have other rental property but they are long term apartments and no one pays taxes on their home.  Who pays these taxes?  What if a guest booked prior to the tax start date will they be hit with a bill later?  Here in NS the GST / HST tax is 15%, do I have to charge that?  How do I remit that?  I am so confused... do I pay to CRA or does Airbnb charge it to the guest??   Please can someone explain this to me or send me a link?  

[André1256]

I’m very interested by this conversation. I just started on this platform this week and am confused by the fact that Airbnb asked me for my companies’ GST and QST numbers during my account set-up for my 2 listed properties. I was under the impression Airbnb for doing the taxe remittance on my behalf. I charge GST and QST on the other platforms I advertise on. Please help?

[Helene508]

Very confusing indeed.  We had the GST/QST (our property is in Quebec) included in our rate and we had supplied Airbnb with our tax registration #s.

When we received the notice on June 14th that Airbnb would be collecting and remitting these taxes, we called them to get clarification.

They told us that we should remove these taxes from our listing and that they would be the ones to collect/remit.  There would be a separate line item on bookings.  So come July 1st, we reduced our nightly rate by approx 15% to reflect this change.

We received two new bookings that week neither of which has GST/QST collected...no separate line item.  We called Airbnb support to point out this error.  Airbnb thought that the Occupancy tax (3%) had been collected and we kept going over the math with them that there was a missing 15% taxes.  They escalated but to no avail as they just came back stating that Airbnb was collecting and remitting these taxes.

Now Airbnb has recently clarified their policy:  

"Hosts with Airbnb listings who are GST, HST, and/or QST registered should continue to account for the GST, HST and/or QST on their accommodation. If this applies to you, you’ll need to provide your GST, HST, and/or QST ID to Airbnb so that Airbnb won’t collect and remit these taxes on top of your accommodation price. If you self-collect GST, HST, and/or QST, please provide this information to avoid changes to your pricing."

So I'm now in an email tug of war trying to get Airbnb to pay for the missing taxes...not a battle I will win, I'm sure.

This would all be made so much easier if Airbnb allowed us to identify any GST/PST separately in our listing.