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.