Adding Norwegian national id for tax purposes

Carl-Erik0
Level 7
Oslo, Norway

Adding Norwegian national id for tax purposes

Just got an email saying that I needed to add my national id to the airbnb payout settings, but the link ended my up on this page, with no apparent way of adding it:

 

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10 Replies 10
Eduard1407
Level 2
Oslo, Norway

Hi there, @Carl-Erik0 , I had the same experience. It looked however like I at one point got this page up, but as I was distraught by something else, I wasn't able to fill it out and I never managed to find it back again.

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Carl-Erik0 @Eduard1407 

Just go through the various stages of the procedure, that should do the trick. I do not think airbnb can legally ask for our "personnummer" and store it, and I would not be comfortable with that in any case. It is bad enough that they have copies of our passports.

 

 

Eduard1407
Level 2
Oslo, Norway

Hi, which procedure are you referring to? When I open the link in my email,  I get the same page as @Carl-Erik0 , and there is no procedure initiated automatically.

 

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Eduard1407 it popped up when I logged in this morning together with a demand to set up a two step log in complete with a bunch of security questions. Perhaps try and log out and log in again ?

@Marit-Anne0 I just logged out, pressed the email link in the email I had received, logged in and still got the same old page with no tax related information to enter. I even tried adding a new payment method, just to see if that triggered it, but alas.

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Carl-Erik0   exactly, there is no place to enter the info they are requesting, and I do not think there is any way they can legally request us to provide that info.  It is just a spiel to work around the requirements.  Do as much as possible at the moment and ignore the rest.  

If you declare the airbnb income on your tax return, you are good.  Just make sure you are familiar with the rules and regulations.  All airbnb needs to be declared and all is taxable.

 I do not think there is any way they can legally request us to provide that info

 

What makes you think that? National id numbers are not regarded sensitive personal information (source 1 and 2) and you just provide it so that AirBnb can comply with regulations set forth by the Norwegian Tax Authority . Furthermore, you are using AirBnb's service at their terms, so as long as they are within the boundaries of the law, they can ask you to provide whatever information they require to comply with the tax regulations. They cannot force you, of course, but as it is their service and their rules they can kick you out, as they also specify:

 

It is important that either your national identification number, D-number or organization number are provided, along with a complete listing address to satisfy this tax regulation. Failure to do so will result in your Airbnb account being suspended.

 

You are totally right about the tax returns, of course, as has been the rule up until now, but the changes imply that you will no longer need to supply this, as it will automatically be submitted by the rental agent 🙂

Carl-Erik0
Level 7
Oslo, Norway

I just had a chat with "Gaurav G in Airbnb support", and basically, spending 25 minutes with him was a no-go. He had no idea what I was talking about and tried sending me to the VAT page and a form for the US American IRS! He was basically frantically searching for anything that could remotely be connected to "tax".

 

So ... now my case has been "escalated to the technical team to check for the bugs in the system" 😂

Marit-Anne0
Level 10
Bergen, Norway

@Carl-Erik0 I think you are overthinking the issue. As long as you abide with the Norwegian tax rules and regulations, you are good to go. Dealing with airbnb support in these issues (and many others) is a fruitless waste of time. 

There may be a bug issue or there may be not or the "issue" is just a smoke screen. If airbnb has yet another bug issue, just be thankful that it does not affect you big time this time around.

airbnb can report whatever they have on file to the tax authorities, but requesting sensitive info should not be part of the game. Given all the bugs reported, whatever info they have should be regarded sensitive. 

Carl-Erik0
Level 7
Oslo, Norway

My "fruitless waste of time" bore fruit 😉 After sticking through some rounds of debugging, the issue  got escalated and was fixed in the end, but it took a full month going from escalation to fix, ending with the new email sent out on Jan 9 with the subject '[Corrected Link] Important information about tax and your hosting activity in Norway'. This adds a section that was missing earlier, 'Taxpayer Information' under 'Payments and Payouts'.