Refactor AirBnb tax charging or get rid of it

[Peter663]

Speaking for the US, Id say that MOST areas not only have some sort of State charged tax, (hotel, occupancy, sales, use etc), but also have some form of city, county or local assesment zone that also has a madatory tax/assesment that needs to be collected.

The current suggested solutions to this are:

1. Add the amount of the charge to the rate.  This is a poor option as then that additional amount is taxed for the state tax that AirBnb charges which is incorrect. You can exempt that amount on your annual statement but that is a huge pain. Also it inflates what it looks like your charging when infact it is a mandatory tax.  Also legally in many state an invoice to customers has to have these diferent taxes broken out.
2. Send the guest a "Special Offer".  Seriously?  What kind of PR is that to send a customer a "Special Offer" saying that you owe more money?
3. Put in your description/rules that the customer will be charged more in person once you arrive. On the outside this seams like an option except that if everyone in your area doesnt do this on their listing chances are you lost that booking.

My Suggestions:

1. Just scrap Airbnb tax collection.  Allow the hosts to add a couple % charges so that the customer sees what these charges are that Airbnb is collecting and flowing through to me and let me file and pay the taxes.
2. Similar to suggestion 1 just let AirBnb continue to collect the state portion as its the same throughout each state but still allow hosts the option of an addition % based assesment that is not taxed for the state portion so that our customers have a clear sense of exactly what they are being charged and the host doesnt have to have a complicated tax formula to pay a simple tax.

[Karina---Kevin0]

To add a 3rd suggestion: Airbnb - get your $hit together and come to accommodation with local taxing authorities so that ALL taxes can be added and itemized for the guest, and remitted. Or see Suggestion #1 above....at least until my #3 can be implemented. The implementation of the current half-a$$ed system has caused more bookeeping, more complicated filings, uncertainty (no documentation that Airbnb is even paying all the taxes it collects - which leaves the host liable should they not be, or should there be disputes by the taxing authorities!)....and more guest confusion and dissatisfaction. While we have been sourcing a growing percentage of bookings from Airbnb, and regard it as superior in other ways to VRBO, the latter's system for taxes is clearer and simpler - we simply enter the total tax rate, which is added to the guest's statement along w/ any other fees. It is then remitted to us, to be paid to the taxing authorities when we file our (quarterly) returns. It could be still better if both Airbnb and VRBO collected AND remitted ALL taxes (and gave us documentation of their filing/payment).....but world peace would be nice also.....

[Michelle140]

It's simple. Just include the programming for people to be able to enter in what their local tax rate is, and have Airbnb calculate that number based on the total collected after Airbnb fees, minus cleaning fees. If some locales have you calculate the fee including the cleaning fees, then that should be an option as well. How many different ways of calculating the tax can there be? I really don't mind paying the tax to the county myself, but it needs to be included in the original Airbnb charge to the guest. All the trouble I've had collecting these taxes in person or after the fact... Sigh =P

[Carol152]

Dose anybody know if there is a place on Airbnb to see what they have collected in tax for the city of Berkeley now that they say they have supported collecting and paying the 12% tax for the host?

[Pauline105]

This local tax collection option Airbnb suggests of adding city tax to the total is also ILLEGAL

In states where Airbnb  is collecting and remitting State taxes, it ends up charging state tas on the added in city tax. TAXING TAX IS ILLEGAL.  It's also a bookkeeping nightmare. I can't believe the states and cities are allowing them to get away with it

  AND they are making a nice extra profit because with the  city tax added in, it allows them to charge their 15% service charge on that added in tax.  In Austin, it's  9%. That adds up when you consider they are doing this around the country, and the world.

[Cheryl189]

What is the resolution here??

[Peter663]

AirBnb "Archived" the topic post.  Meaning not enough support from the community to move the request forward.  So no resolution is the resolution.  Unfortunately.

[Noreen13]

I complained for along time.  What else can we do?

[Walter-A0]

Hello All:

While it is clear we personally are all responsible for our own income taxes on our rental income, it is most unfortunate that Airbnb does not help us having the option to add a "Hotel or Tourism Tax" tax to reflect this in billing or quote breakdown. So, this leaves many of us in limbo with the authorities where we need to pay this "Tourism or Hotel Tax". 

I say this because at times the airbnb final quote does not reflect all the individual charges or its breakdown such as cleaning fees, crib, high chair etc). This can happen depending on your booking settings and how the reservations comes as confirmed. When this happens you may find yourself arguing with the local "Tourism or Hotel Tax" collection authorities. They of course prefer collecting the tax from the total amount reflected on the airbnb bill with no breakdown. So this issue is time consuming and really problematic for us not to mention unfair as instead of the 13% we should be paying on room rate (in our case) we end up paying more like 15% on "Tourism or Hotel Tax".