Hotel Taxes

[Tami231]

I live in Iowa and my community is wondering how they are going to receive their hotel tax from me.  I am new to AirBNB hosting and haven't had a year end yet.  After reading some other discussions I am greatly confused.  I was under the impression AirBNB collected and paid all of the taxes for hosts.  Any insight would be appreciated.

[Lorna170]

@Tami231    Go To:  Listing,  Pricing and Availability, Pricing scroll down to the Taxes section and click on the right arrow to see the tax details.  If Air is collecting and paying the taxes for your location, you should see something like the picture below.  If not, you have to enter your tax rates so that the taxes will be collected and disbursed to you to report on your required forms.  I file a monthly form with my State and County to reflect that Air collects taxes on my behalf.  Check with your State tax office as to what you need to do for Iowa.

[John4817]

Greetings. I live in Virginia. Here in Winchester, there is a 6% hotel tax. Previously, this wasn't enforced. The city has recently increased efforts to improve enforcement. Because I wish to be compliant, I set up a business license, filed an application with the zoning department, also with the commissioner of the revenue. And I adjusted my listing on the Airbnb site so that I could collect the required hotel  tax.

good news: the tax is forwarded to me, and I have a mechanism for submitting it to the city of Winchester, as required.

The bad news: Airbnb has decided without my permission to forward Virginia state sales taxes to me! i've called the Virginia Department of taxation, Richmond, Virginia, and I was informed that this activity was irregular. My understanding that Airbnb is responsible, as Market Place facilitator, to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of us hosts.

I've tried opening countless tickets with Airbnb. I get boiler plate emails. Tickets are closed without my permission. It's obvious that they are trying to confuse and obfuscate and otherwise avoid dealing with this issue. Obviously, Airbnb listings have an advantage if there is no hotel tax, compared to the traditional hotels that do have to pay the tax.

If anyone has any suggestions, or would like to join my efforts to nudge Airbnb along toward compliance and legal behavior, I'd love to have your help.