Occupancy Tax

[Kim210]

How do I find out what has been collected for occcupancy tax and whether or not it has been submitted on my behalf?

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/304/where-do-i-find-information-about-my-payouts

[Alice103]

The information is no longer listed in the online transaction history, although it was listed last year when I checked. Airbnb notified me it would collect the tax and states that on the listing. There is no tax paid info available and apparently no way to contact Airbnb directly to ask this question.

Is there a way for hosts to work together to demand that Airbnb staff a host service line?

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Alice103  It is still there.  Click "Gross Earnings"

[David-and-Shari0]

Thank you Cynthia and Chris! AirBNB just started collecting our city taxes in Salem, Oregon. When I get the e-mail confirmation of a booking I see in a paragraph beneath the numbers how much they took out. However, it is not showing up here where you indicated. I will have to contact AirBNB and see why it's not showing up here. After reading all the posts in this thread I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. How does a person keep track of all this when AirBNB is not easily showing us this information? I have not found it anywhere else after looking in all the different areas.

[Alice103]

Thank you Cynthia and Chris! I found it. How do I find out why rate of payment varies wildly. Our tax is 4.5% but the taxes paid on this report range from 11% to 1% with no regular mode.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Alice103  That, I'm not sure about and Airbnb isn't so helpful with tax questions, but you can give them a call at 855-424-7262 and try to get some clarity.

[Tom186]

I don't want Airbnb to collect and pay my local and state occupancy taxes.  We pay them monthly ourselves.  How can I stop Airbnb from automactically collecting them?

[Linda108]

@Tom186  You could go to the taxing entity and object, you need to understand this process is a contract between Air BNB and the state or city entity, not with you.  Many taxing entities like that Air BNB collects because there are hosts that don't register their listing or pay taxes.  This way the taxes are paid.  If Air BNB is collecting and remitting the occupancy tax, there is a notation on the reservation confirmation and also in your gross earnings summary.

[Alison107]

How can hosts be certain that Airbnb is remitting the proper amount of occupancy tax to the host's city, if it is collected by Airbnb and not by the host? Shouldn't Airbnb make that information available to the host and available as a public record? In other words, what if Airbnb is not remitting the tax but is collecting it? It's a slippery slope. Transparency is always the best option. And Airbnb has an ethical and legal obligation to make that information publicly available on its website for each host's listing.

[Ellen12]

On Airbnb's website, the state they are collecting state, county and city taxes in the resort town where our listing is located. We realized in May however that they were not collecting enough. It wasn't broken down, CS was no help, and by calling the state department of revenue and the city, I learned they really aren't collecting the city. Both the city and state are on to them. I'm hoping city will pursue legal proceedings against Airbnb. In the meantime, the inaccuracy still appears on their website; I have been calling and emailing for 7 weeks with no clear response; "we're looking into it." There is also no easy way to collect this tax: no line item as before. I'm snoozing my listing until they can figure this out. Not a good business practice by Airbnb.

[Ellen12]

In conversation with our state's department of revenue, I learned that lodgings taxes are submitted in lump sum by Airbnb so they are not posted to our particular tax account.

[Richard756]

Hi there,

If you have rental income from sources other than Airbnb, like vrbo, tripadvisor, etc. who do NOT collect and remit tax for you, how are you reporting your monthly rental revenue?  Are you excluding the Airbnb portion, as it's already reported and remitted by ABnb?

This is tricky, as hosts are personally liably for these taxes.  What if Abnb does not remit or goes bankrupt?  Who's on the hook?

Nobody at Airbnb has been able to answer this question.  They are playing dumb.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Tom186  Unfortunately I'm not aware of a way to stop Airbnb from collecting these taxes.  You can Contact Airbnb directly if you'd like to discuss with them.

[Elizabeth331]

Airbnb recently began collecting Occupancy Taxes for my listing in the State of Colorado.  BUT Airbnb is over-charging my guests. My guests should be paying State Sales Tax, County Sales Tax, and County Lodging Tax, for a combined total of 6.0% tax, but instead, Airbnb is charging 11.0%.  I believe I know how they made this mistake, as the local town charges 5.0% sales tax, but my property is not located within the town limits.  How can I ever get in touch with a real person so Airbnb can correct this?