Tourist Tax Collection in Austria

[Alex751]

Hi there

We rent out our chalet, which is in Lofer in Austria.  Airbnb do not currently automate the collection of tourist tax in Austria and so we are doing this manually as and when guests arrive. We are not there to be able to talk to guests directly during their stay and although we feel that we make it clear that guests are required to pay this tax during their stay, some guests are confused by the requirement.  I would love to hear from other Airbnbers who rent out their property in Austria as to how they manage the tourist tax. Thanks : )

[Davy-and--Vanessa0]

Hi Alex

Not sure how to answer the tourist tax question, but more generally, how do you file your tax return for airbnb rental income? do you use someone local or do it yourself? 

[Alex751]

Hi there, we have someone local who does it on our behalf. : )

[Rob501]

Hi Alex,

I have a house in Slovenia and I find that collecting tourist tax is now the biggest time-eater of everything that I have to do in managing the house - getting guests e-mail, getting details, chasing them, making a note of whether i have chased them and whether i have their tourist tax!.  AirBnB 'help topic' on Tourist Tax, say that hosts should mention it in their listing yet there seems to be no-where to actually do this.  Other sites (HomeAway, TripAdvisor) allow me to put notes in to that effect so at least guests know that it coming. With AirBnB you have to magically remember to mention it BEFORE you accept (which I don't always remember to do) and then guests get annoyed (quite rightly) - as if AirBnB want to trip you up and annoy guests!

I really hope AirBnB to allow these notes to be added, or even allow hosts to include it in the calculation; but every countries/regions tourist tax is different so they have to just allow ANY combination of price/age/nights etc - not that hard really.

[Dessi5]

Hi, 

I include the tax (also VAT) in the price so I don't have to annoy my guests with requests about additional payments and explanations...

Cheers, 

Dessi