AirBnB withholding tax for non-US listings and non-US resident

[Jay18]

Recently AirBnB started withholding tax, which we believe is an amount for US income tax. The thing is, none of of our listings are in the US. The person who created the AirBnB account for the business who owns or leases the rental listings is a resident of the same non-US country. One AirBnB rep said that in order to avoid US income tax withholding, the company needed to open a business account. Anybody ever hear of that? I spoke with another AirBnB rep later, and they stated there was no such thing as a business account for hosting, only business accounts to find places to rent for their employees, etc.

[Sarah1929]

Did anyone here end up filing the 1040NR?

[David978]

Hi, 

Has anyone successfuly recouped the tax withheld from airbnb?

For anyone who applied to IRS how long is the process and what steps were used successfully  

[Susan17]

@David978

There are several different payment delay/witholding issues that are going on at the moment - some are relatively new, others have been going on for years. 

Have Airbnb told informed you that this (IRS) particular issue is the one that relates to your payments, or is there a possibility that it could be one of the other problems? 

Did you ever receive the email from Airbnb about 2 or 3 years back, requiring everyone to click- confirm that we weren't liable for tax in US? 

And did you receive the email in August of last year, that Airbnb sent out to all Irish hosts, requiring us to update our personal info on the site, or our payments would be stopped? 

[David978]

I don't think. So Susan. 

Any date for the email by any chance?

[David978]

P. S, confirmed it IRS tax related. 

[Susan17]

Ah ok, that's a bit more tricky then @David978. Seems to be a lot of similar posts to yours flying around on various groups recently. The email we received in August requesting our updated details was in advance of Airbnb handing over the current host data to the Revenue here, which happened around the end of Sept, I think. If you didn't receive that email, and you never got to update your details, perhaps that could be the root cause of your problem now though, and why your money has been witheld for (already sent to?) the IRS. 

Let me see if I can dig up the email we got and I'll get back to you asap. Btw are you paid through Airbnb Payments UK, or Airbnb Payments Ireland? 

[Susan17]

@David978 This was the one

[David978]

I think we actioned that at the time. 

If it's somethat is going to seriously impact your revenue, it should be sent, resent and tripple sent with a warning highlighting the impact of missing the reply..

Then airbnb should chase down non compliant hosts to ensure they know what they missed and the consequences.. 

That's what they should be doing for there hosts. 

[Susan17]

Airbnb should be doing a lot of things that they're not doing, @David978.

I can't fathom how it's even a remote possibility that they could send hosts' money to the IRS when they have no relevant US tax or SS numbers anyway. Did they provide you with any proof or documentation whatsoever that that's where your money has gone? That's a h*ll of a lot of your money to just disappear!

As regards taking legal action- they did have a clause in the T&Cs that prohibits us from pursuing them through the courts - binding arbitration only - but the EU brought in new legislation, specific to Airbnb - that I believe came into force on Jan 1st, that states we should be permitted to seek legal recourse in our own countries. Airbnb updated the T&Cs on Dec 11, but from what I could see, the binding arbitration clause still stood. However, the T&Cs were again quietly updated on Monday of this week (21st) I haven't had a chance to have a look through them yet though, so I'm not sure what they say on that now. Either way though, the EU says that we should have the rights to take legal action, so thats the important thing. 

[David978]

I saw that, but fact is local law will superseed any American arbitration nonsense thay try to bring into force..

Getting to the point where hosts need to band together and show airbnb that we are the product.. Without us they have nothing except an app. 

[Susan17]

@David978 

Did you ever get this sorted out? 

[Nan18]

Hi David,

Does airbnb still withold your tax? I have same situation, non-american list, non-american resident, non-american income, but they start to withold 30% tax from this year october, I filled W8ben form, do you think it will stop them withold tax? Customers cannot help and answer my question. Could you kindly share your experience to me?

Thanks a lot!

[Happy21]

hi Susan,

Thank you so much for great contributions here for helping!

I received 1042-S from bnb. I has a listing in US but I am a Canadian. The amount of 1042 is more than the actual income I got from bnb gross income proof. Means I should pay more than I should pay. BnB withheld a small amount then stopped withholding until I provid my tax ID information. Should I file 1040NR to pay rest 30% of bnb income? Can I deduct any expence for the hosting? For my understanding is that airbnb sgould take responsebitiles to collect the tax for IRS, am I right? Btw, Airbnb refused to correct the wrong amount of 1042. Can I use bnb privide a fraud information to IRS? For my understanding, IRS authorize bnb to withholding tax means airbnb takes responsibilities to collect the tax from guests.  Am I right? Any ideas? 

Millions Thanks!

Happy Stay team

[Man-Wen0]

Hi Jay and teammates,
I am a new host from Taiwan. I asked the same questions to Airbnb supporter since July 25th but haven't heard from them. I did my research, and it seems that W8-ben is the best choice for a non-US citizen/host. ( https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/w8form.asp) Does everyone fill in W8-ben but Airbnb still withhold 28%-29% from you?

[Nan18]

Hi Man-Wen,

Does airbnb still withold your tax? I have same situation, non-american list, non-american resident, non-american income, but they start to withold 30% tax from this year october, I filled W8ben form, do you think it will stop them withold tax? Customers cannot help and answer my question. Could you kindly share your experience to me?

Thanks a lot!