Airbnb charging Occupancy Taxes for County House is not in

Airbnb charging Occupancy Taxes for County House is not in

My house is in Osceola County, however, Airbnb collects and remits occupancy taxes to Orange County. Meanwhile, I pay occupancy taxes to Osceola since Airbnb does not have an agreement with OSceola Count for occupancy taxes.

 

It is very unfortunate that for a couple of years now this problem has occurred. I reached out to Airbnb almost 3 months ago to correct this issue and nothing has been done to date. In the past three months since I asked Airbnb to resolve this issue, we have received over 15 reservations that continue to charge the incorrect occupancy taxes to our guests.

 

As an Airbnb Superhost for over two years, I expected Airbnb to correct this issue within a reasonable amount of time. I was given a deadline of 1-3 months after countless calls and emails and almost zero feedback on the status of my case. We need to fix this ASAP as it puts me in a competitive disadvantage and I have also being paying double occupancy tax now for two years (to Osceola and Orange County). We continue to be impacted with every new booking acquired by paying occupancy taxes to two different counties (Osceola and Orange) for every booking. Airbnb requested an absurd amount of time (1-3 months) to correct this issue.

 

We are now very close to the 3 month deadline and I have not been provided any updates in regards to this case. Why can’t we just create a new listing with the new county assigned and transfer my reviews. Why can’t the location of the house just be updated to Osceola county. Questions I have been waiting for almost three months for an answer and have been totally disregarded by Airbnb Customer Service.

 

As an Airbnb Superhost, and someone who has used the platform for many years, I must say I am beyond disappointed with the total disregard and lack of response. There has to be a faster way to correct this simple issue, we are at over 2.5 months now and no correction. What will happen when we reach the 3 months deadline given to me and it is not fixed yet. Will Airbnb reimburse me for the thousand of dollar of paid occupancy taxes that were not due.

3 Replies 3
Allison2
Level 10
Traverse City, MI

I don't mean this to sound unsympathetic, but when your individual issue runs afoul of massively bad web structure without a clear protocol for resolution, you will get lost in the gears of the big machine.

 

Good luck. If your ask isn't a simple fix Airbnb is next to useless.

 

You might try from the other side: contact the county and tell them that your taxes are being collected but incorrectly remitted to another county. See if the government might bring more pressure than you can as an individual.

I think AirBnB folks , being mostly run by mellenials, are completely cartographically challenged.  They couldn't read a map to save themselves.   We've been dealing with the same issue for over 7 moths.   We've sent topo maps, accessors maps, property tax statements,........    They just don't seem to care. 

 

Ken320
Level 2
Thornton, CO

I'm also in Osceola county FL and have the same issue. They believe my property is in Polk county. My property is a newly listed property and I've let Airbnb customer service know about it immediately. The response I've been told is that they have a small team that is dedicated to handle this issue and it could take several months. I however think 3 months or longer is absurd and this issue needs to get resolved asap. I'm also at a disadvantage since taxes are collected at a higher percentage than other listings nearby. If anyone else has any advice on how to expedite this process please advise. Thanks 

 

Thanks