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

Jay18
Level 5
Borgarnes, Iceland

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

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.

87 Replies 87

@Man-Wen0 Hi - The correct form for my situation was W8-BEN-E, because the renting entity was an Icelandic company. Did not matter to AirBnB. They apparently looked up some information from when I lived in America, and used that to determine I was subject to the withholding. When I finally got the 1099 from AirBnB, it did *NOT* have my US social security number on it, just an old address. This leads me to believe that they found some public record, even though it was not accurate, and had not been for many years.

 

At the time the AirBnB account we used was created, it was not possible to enter company info, which was correct in my situation. AirBnB only allowed for the information of individuals. Maybe that has changed. Don't know, and it does not matter any longer, since we no longer have any listings on the AirBnB platform.

Explore-MTL0
Level 2
Montreal, Canada

Has anyone got their money back from this?! I have been dealing with this bs for SIX months trying to get a 1099 so I can file to get my money back from the IRS. Airbnb is refusing to give me a 1099 from because I am a Canadian citizen. Yet they have no problem sending my money to the IRS. 

Our (Canadian) Short Term Rental Hosting Company applied for a US EIN number (Employer Identification Number) so that we could file US tax returns to claim for the withholding that was taken. It has been over 6 months since submission and the IRS has only acknowledged receipt. They stated that they require additional time to review...

Nan18
Level 2
Weihai, China

Hi Jay,

 

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!

Jay18
Level 5
Borgarnes, Iceland

@Nan18 AirBnB quit withholding the tax once I provided my SSN. Even though I am a permanent resident of Iceland, and have not even been to the US in years, I was caught up in AirBnB's files as 'an American'. No idea why, since I provided verifiable proof I am a resident of Iceland, and all listings were in Iceland and thus all income was earned in Iceland. AirBnB doesn't care about this, they just kept referring to some IRS regulation, which the two different IRS reps I spoke to said did not apply. But AirBnB was in the driver's seat, since they collected and disbursed the money. We no longer have any listings on AirBnB.

Siavash7
Level 1
Vancouver, Canada

Hey everyone,

 

Has anyone had any recent success? I have $19,000 held up since Nov 2019 (4 months ago).

This happened to me in 2017 as well. I was able to get all of my $45,000 back after 3 months of bugging the hell out of Airbnb by calling every week and sometimes every day.

Kay63
Level 3
Olongapo, Philippines

It seems you are the only one who has successfully retrieved the stolen money.  

@Siavash7 

 

Hi - I would like to confirm if the money AirBnB withheld was for US taxes, or some other reason.

 

If AirBnB withheld money from your payments for US tax purposes, regardless of the reason, then the money has been reported to the IRS. AirBnB will have to issue you a 1099 (they are required to do so), and you will have to file a tax return with the IRS to get the money returned to you.

 

In my situation, it took forever to get AirBnB to send me a 1099; however, after they did, I filed it with my tax return in the US, and promptly got a refund of all the money, plus interest.

 

If AirBnB has simply not paid money for some reason, other than money withheld and paid to the IRS, then AirBnB should refund it. Otherwise, AirBnB no longer has the money. For the record, we closed all listings on AirBnB well before the COVID-19 crisis. It just became too much of a hassle to deal with.

Felipe710
Level 2
Stgo, Chile

Hi @Jay18 . We are a company located in Chile, we only added a US BANK account and I would like to know wich form did you filled to start receive all you money with out the “withholding “? Please your help

@Felipe710  In our case, I work for a company that hosted destinations on AirBnB. At least back then, AirBnB's platform would not accommodate entities, it only accommodated individuals. Since I had a US taxpayer ID, which was my personal social security number, I went ahead and supplied my SSN to AirBnB. It took quite a long time to get a 1099 from AirBnB so I could file a tax return and get the money paid back. In the meantime, we severed all business with AirBnB. They seem to prefer the easiest way out in every situation, as many companies do (sadly), rather than do things the correct way. If you have no connection to the US other than a bank account, then this situation might be difficult to fix. You would need to get some sort of taxpayer ID number in the US, and then file a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service to get the money back. The IRS can issue you an ID number easily enough; I would think the hardest part will be for AirBnB to issue you a 1099 (or whatever form it is for entities/businesses). Once you have that document, filing a tax return will be somewhat difficult as well. In our case, the reason we did not do this, is because the company would have had to provide a bunch of legal and financial information to the IRS, at great expense. For example, we would have had to provide the IRS with translated-to-English tax returns and financial statements allow with the return. While there were thousands of dollars involved, it would have cost thousands of dollars to do all the paperwork. That is why it was easier in this situation for me to use my personal info and just work the rest out within the company. Just remember AirBnB doesn't give a rat's a$$ about you when it comes to this. You are on your own, once they issue you that form.

Rafael584
Level 2
Winter Garden, FL

I'm just having this problem now. I'm Brazilian and I am a student visa in US. This visa has an expiration date, so I'm nor a citizen neither a permanent resident. I opened a bank account here in US and i'm temporary receiving my payouts in US, while I'm here! I don't have lists in US, all them are in Brazil. I already pay 27% tax in Brazil and now they are withholding 24% for American income tax!! I can't survive like this!! I'm talking by chat, email and phone with Airbnb for weeks! They keep withholding and the worst: I tried to add a Brazilian payout method and receive my money in my country! But Airbnb just erased Brasil in the list of the countries that I can choose to add a payout method!! So, they are forcing me to keep paying income tax in US. Are you guys have any clue about this? 

@Rafael584 I am going to guess (although I feel certain) the reason AirBnB is withholding the tax is because you have a US-based bank account. As I have said before, AirBnB doesn't give two SH|TS about the hosts in this regard. AirBnB would rather err on the side of what's easiest for them rather than investigate and do the proper thing.

 

So you are going to have to register for a US taxpayer ID, known as an individual taxpayer identification number, or ITIN, and provide AirBnB with a form. I am going to guess again here and say that the form W8-BEN is the one you need.

 

Once you provide that form, AirBnB *should* stop withholding US tax from your payouts. After that, you will have to figure out a way to file a US tax return to get the withheld money refunded to you. Note that AirBnB has already paid this money to the IRS in America, and will NOT refund it to you. Even if they were wrong in the first place for withholding it. Why? Because it is just easier for them to withhold from whomever they wish than to do the right thing in each individual case. No SH|TS given!

 

Sorry, but that is reality. I've lived this and had to do it. I was not going to let several thousand dollars just disappear. On a brighter note, I was rewarded with a fair amount of interest on my delayed refunds, as this occurred in 2017 and 2018, and I just got my money back a few months ago. Still, not worth all the trouble.

Blas11
Level 2
Buenos Aires, Argentina

I live in Uruguay, I dont have anything to do with the US. I collect my earnings through Wester Union never had a problem. Last week Airbnb charged me and my client a tax for US rent. I am desperate I wrote airbnb through every channel and they dont answer back. I even dont have the option to upload a W8 form. Please help!! This is an abuse!