Taxing issue THIS is urgent! Florida Hosts!

[Carmen-And-Jim0]

OK a fellow Florida host called the state of florida about AirBnB collecting the 6 percent and they were told from thier local office of STATE of florida that because AIRBNB justs gives a lump sum to the state of florida and does not give the individual amounts, Tax id number of who the property belong to, etc. They do not know what you reported.

MEANING: if you don't want a aduit you have to collect the 6% again and report and get dinged on your listing.....I am having a all day phone call with Alvara, Air, and state of florida , tomorrow since my phone calls to the state ALSO stated if I am Licensed and have a tax ID I must report and file taxes for the month of confusing December.

I will convey what either me and the other florida host has resolved with the state of Florida. Thanks God Air is not collecting Miami taxes for now.

[Joni-B--Michael-And-Will0]

Jorge... the only reason you should be paying two state tax and County tax is this a platform is not paying it for you and you're collecting the tax yourself other you need to keep your number but only pay tax for tax you collect and leave it at that.

[Jorge100]

Now I got my first booking.

Airbnb is not collecting all taxes, just the State (FL) 7% sales tax, and the calculation that shows in the page is wrong, because they do not include the cents.

I had to modify the quote to my guest adding the 6% Osceola Tourist Development Tax to the night rate, but now the 7% state tax is added to the 6% county tax!! 

Now is clear I will fill and pay the Osceola TDT, but I need to get the State tax cleared with DOR. 

Wish me luck!

Jorge

[Joni-B--Michael-And-Will0]

If they're only paying the state tax that means your county has not signed up for Airbnb to pay the county directly so you continue to pay the county and don't worry about the state they're being paid on behalf of your number

[Jorge100]

I got this answer from Florida DOR

The Department has received your inquiry regarding a relationship now beginning with AirBnB for rental property. At this time, AirBnB reports and submits any and all sales tax collection that goes through them. You would not report any of the transactions done through AirBnB with your sales tax return. You will only report those transactions that you commit to outside of AirBnB. If you no longer will rent the property and AirBnB will be doing all of the rental transactions, then you may wish to inactivate your sales tax account. If you will be conducting some rentals that AirBnB will not be associated with, then you will want to keep your sales tax account active and only report those rentals that you do on your sales tax returns every period.

Cristal clear.

Jorge

[Patty101]

i have my property in osceola county too. and every month i need to pay the occupancy tax for the osceola county....

but how can  ask the guest for this tax i dont want they give me a bad review for this!!

[Mariana100]

I am very confused about this. I have been paying the monthly taxes, on top of what they are supposedly paying on my behalf. Also, Airbnb is collecting taxes for the wrong county. In my listing it says Orange County, Florida, but my property is in Osceola County! How can I fix this? I have not found any way to communicate with Airbnb.

[Karen1]

@Mariana100, if Airbnb is the only platform you use to rent out your property, you do not need to pay the state any transient tax. And you do not need an account with the Department of Revenue. 

To contact Airbnb, I get the best response by using Twitter. Cclick on this link to find all your options: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165/highl...

[Jim128]

I discovered that when a books a stay for my property Air BB collects and submits the taxes on my behalf.  Sounds nice and I would like that.  However since I am new I pretended i was booking my own property since i just got a tax increase as of Jan 1 2017 and I wanted to make sure that Air BB was collecting the new tax rate.  

I was surprised that when i put my mouse over the tax collected part of the quote on the webpage it says that it is collecting for State and Polk County.

My house is in Osceola County!       

The tax office of Osceola has no agreement with Air BB for direct tax payments.  So fellow Osceola your taxes are being given to Polk by mistake.  The Tax office told me Monday that regardless where Air BB sends the taxes (if it not to Osceola) the home owner still must pay the taxes.  So good luck at trying to get Polk to give you back you taxes!

I have a call placed Monday for get this worked out and was told I would hear back within 48hrs.    Crickets.

I have sent screen shots and phone numbers to  Osceola County tax office at there request and they also will follow up.  My location is close to the border of Osceola and Polk and i think somehow the postoffice might be involved in giving Air BB incorrect info as they just signed an agreement with Polk to collect and submitt taxes as of Feb 1  2017.

[Greg-Or-Lani0]

This is NOT just restricted to Florida.  Airbnb started collecting taxes in Arizona in 2017 (prior to that, I collected and remitted taxes).  At first I thought this was a nice feature until a guest pointed out that the tax assessed and paid was 13% of the rent and cleaning charges.  The effective rate is 6.325% as our property is not in the City of Prescott's taxing jurisdiction.  Even if it was, the tax would only be another 2%.  I have confirmed with state, county and city taxing authorities the proper transient taxes are 6.325%.  A professional property management tax service confirms the same tax rate.  

My effort to get a response from Airbnb began on 2-9-17 thorough various departments and providing screen shots of tax rates received directly from the state and tax service companies.  I have received promises of call backs, resolutions, research in process...  with no less that eight contact efforts on my part.

This evening, February 28th, in an attempt to elevate to a supervisor the answers were "left for the evening,"  "the supervisor doesn't have the authority to issue a full refund," must be elevated to another department"... Even though it is documented in their notes that both the host and guest agree to cancel with a full refund (including the Airbnb charge assessed to both host and guest).

I was suddenly "disconnected" from the customer service rep (Desarae) and am still awaiting a call back.  

And to those of you that have been assured to not worry, "Airbnb will take care of the taxes and the DOR," of your respective states when evidence of proper payment needs to be provided, my thoughts are with you-I can only imagine what that will be like.  

In closing, I will forward my complaint and Airbnb's lack of response to the Arizona Department of Revenue and our governor who recently passed favorable legislation in our state to make shared lodging in Arizona more open and also restricted the various taxing jurisdictions in the state from assessing "pile on" taxes to permit this industry to grow in Arizona.  Greg from Prescott, AZ. 

[Karen1]

@Greg-Or-Lani0, Hi Greg. I think you might be alarmed for no reason. It looks to me that Airbnb is collecting taxes on your behalf for BOTH your state and your county. To verify the amount per transaction collection, look at your Transaction History / Gross Earnings. 

Here is information on the Airbnb website about Arizona taxes:

Arizona

State of Arizona

Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in the State of Arizona will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:

• Arizona Transaction Privilege Tax: 5.5% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Arizona Department of Revenue Transaction Privilege Tax website.
• County Excise Tax: The county excise tax rate varies by county. It is typically 0.28%-6.5% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. For detailed information, visit the Arizona Department of Revenue Transaction Privilege Tax website.
• Local Transient Occupancy Taxes: One or more of the following local transient occupancy taxes may apply: Transaction Privilege Tax, Transient Lodging Tax, Bed Tax, or Hotel-Motel Tax. The local transient occupancy tax rate varies by city. It is typically 1.5%-6.0% of the listing price including any cleaning fee for reservations 29 nights and shorter. Transaction Privilege Tax typically applies to all reservations, regardless of length of stay. For detailed information, visit the Arizona Department of Revenue Transaction Privilege Tax website.

If the links don't work in this message, just go to the Airbnb help section and search for "taxes collected".  I hope this information helps! - Karen

[Karen1]

@Greg-Or-Lani0, after re-reading your original post, I agree that 13% transient tax is too high for your area. I encourage you to look at your Gross Earnings and verify the percentage of the tax collected. If it is indeed this much, the best way to get a quick response from Airbnb is to send a Direct Message via Twitter to @AirbnbHelp.  The support team usually will reply within a few minutes.

Good luck! - Karen

[Greg-Or-Lani0]

Karen, I really appreciate your response but please re-read my comments.  I have tried twice today via the phone line (I don not have a twitter account and if that is the only they might respond, pretty narrow for a large company such as this).  This has gon on since since 2-9-17.  I have sent PDF's that I get directly from the taxing authroities in Arizona, copies of third party tax service company schedules...  My guest has also complained and given, at best, poor answers, or misleading ones.  

We are talking about refunding the guest under $50 for the over collection or full refund of what the guest has paid so they can rebook with the other short term rental service company that doesn't seem to have a problem answering their phone.  Further, the responsibility to collect the tax is with the host at that site.  The thrid largest site is collecting within .05% of the correct amount.  What is the issue with Airbnb then and why are they not willing to respond and at least refund $50 to make a guest and host happy since they cannot provide validation for the amounts they are collecting, other that posting conveniently, the entirity of possible tax rates in the entire state?  

I cannot rationalize this poor level of service to both the guests and hosts who have both paid their share of fees for Airbnb to perform.  By the way, as I type this, I remain on hold to try one more time to get someone to take responsibility.   My phone timer just passed 29 minutes.  Greg in Prescott.

[Jeffrey114]

Hi Karen - I have found your posts on this topic to be the most accurate, and in-line with my interactions with Florida DOR.  Still missing from the AirBnB website is Osceola County, unless I have completely missed it, they don't list the county and they don't add the local taxes made for my reservations or collect them from guests. Still in 2018. I wish AirBnB had their act together - but I was assured by Florida DOR that its the responsibility of AirBnB,not the host, to collect the taxes and remit to Florida.  Thanks, Jeff

[Joni-B--Michael-And-Will0]

Jeff...Yes you are correct. 

[Jim128]

I replied to this today