Opt out of occupancy tax?

[Andrew106]

Hey all, just wondering if anyone knows whether it's possible to opt-out of occupancy tax collection by Airbnb. Now that they've started collecting it, it's making my monthly tax situation more complicated. We're listed on multiple sites, so previously every month I'd tally our monthly totals from all sources and fill out my state tax forms, and then my city tax form (which will not be included in Airbnb's collection). Now it seems as if I'll have to exclude Airbnb income from my state forms but still include it on my city form, which just strikes me as a pain in the butt and makes it more likely that I'll screw something up. Anyone know if I can just go back to the way it was before?

[Stacey51]

Did you figure this out? I am new to short term rentals in beaufort, sc. I am sure if i still pay the city of beaufort the 3%? 

[Lois-and-Darryl0]

If Airbnb collects the occupancy tax directly, then they pay the city or state on your behalf.  We live in Washington State, and like other states, Airbnb pays the occupancy tax to our State Department of Revenue directly and we have access to the tax form on our profile here on the Airbnb website.  So, no, if Airbnb pays the city or state ocupancy tax, don't pay it.  I suggest you make sure you are compliant with your city and state business and tax regulations directly with those agencies, and not wait until the end of the year.

[Andrew106]

I'm not sure I really did ever figure this out. As far as I can tell, there's no way on the website to tell whether AirBnB is collecting just state taxes or also county taxes. A while back I did a calculation that seemed to indicate it was only collecting state taxes, so I just kept paying the Beaufort county tax on these bookings. However, I just did the calculation again and it seems like AirBnB is collecting more than they used to for tax (I can't figure it out exactly but it's between 8% and just over 10%), which kind of implies that it's collecting the county tax as well. If this is the case, it's only remitting the taxes annually, when I'm set up to pay the state and county monthly, so I'm not sure what the hell I'm supposed to do. Guess I'll be trying to go through the hassle of talking to someone there directly, though last time I did after I posted my original question they were not helpful. If you have any further info on this please update.

[Andrew106]

I dug further into it and found a page that basically says AirBnB currently only collects taxes administered and collected by the state. So Beaufort county taxes are still not being collected. I'm not sure how they're doing their math honestly, based on the taxes I'm seeing being collected for my bookings, but I've submitted that question to them and will update this again once I get an answer.

[-Rmlv-0]

This is great information but did anyone figure out if you can opt out of this process and pay your own state taxes?