Country of residency

[Ruth175]

Hello,

Any idea how to force Airbnb to change my country of residency and stop illegally charging me VAT on services for hosting and travelling? Option to make such change for end user was completely removed from Airbnb page.

I requested Airbnb to do so numerous times over 6 months, but they ignore this by closing my support requests. Once I got reply from real person and was shocked how this dumbhead identified my country of residency by my phone number, payout currency and my country of citizenship. I have nothing to do with country of my citizenship on a tax matters and I am not from US or Eritrea with citizenship-based taxation systems.

Pathetic customers service or rather just ignorance. Be sure, Superhosts status is a form of bullsh*t for naive idiots!

[Clare0]

@Ruth175 Have you changed your residency in your profile?

https://www.airbnb.com/users/edit

You can change where you live there.  

[Ruth175]

@Clare0

Changing "Where You Live" in a profile does NOT change country of residency in the system. Airbnb still illegally charging me VAT on services for hosting and travelling. Even re-verifying ID with new Goverment ID changes nothing. Still get charged with my country of citizenship VAT rate.

[Clare0]

@Ruth175 I don't see anywhere in my profile to indicate citizenship.  What country issued your Government ID?

[Ruth175]

@Clare0

You are from US, so VAT is not aplicable for you. I can see VAT rate of my country of citizenship in all hosting and traveling VAT invoices.

[Clare0]

@Ruth175 Yes I live in the US so VAT is not something I am terribly familiar with.  That said, I do know that Airbnb does look at a variety of factors to determine which country of residence is applicable for VAT purposes.  These include: 

• Phone number country
• IP address
• Payment instrument country
• Payout instrument country
• Government ID
• Verified VAT 
• ID country

So, your profile indicates that you are in Antartica, but that is not a country as far as I know.  

Perhaps you need to talk with Airbnb again to get this sorted out for you.  

[Ruth175]

@Clare0

Don't you think I have not tried to put correct place of my current residency prior to Antarctica? I did and it changed absolutely nothing.

This is a joke to determine country of residency by phone number or by credit card issuing country or by payout country. We live in 21st century, so I may use US Skype or Google Voice number, credit card from UK and bank account in NL. So how my country of residency can be determined then? The only legal way to determine country of residency is by government ID card (only issued to permanent residents) or by special residency certificate (usually issued by local police office or municipality).

This problem is not new, but Airbnb does not care or simply maximizing profit by illegally collecting this tax. Pathetic.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Changing-residency/td-p/291538

Talk to Airbnb? Any idea how? My all support requests are closed without any reply.

[Clare0]

@Ruth175 I cannot say what is legal to determine residency.  All I can do is share Airbnb's information on how they determine residency.  All indications, from guest reviews, would indicate that you live in Spain, which is an EU country requiring VAT.   

You will need to dispute your country of residence with the appropriate authorities in Spain, or where ever you live.  Airbnb is only following the requirements set by the EU.  

[Ruth175]

@Clare0

Legal rules governing tax residency http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/tax-residency/

You make false pressumtions. If my listing is currently located in Spain, it does not automatically mean I'm resident alien in Spain or Spanish citizen. And I do not need to dispute anything with authorities in Spain. I need Airbnb to change my country of residency and stop charging me VAT illegally using my country of citizenship rate. Period.

[Clare0]

My dear @Ruth175, your complaint isn't with me.  I'm just another host residing in California.  The reviews on your listing mention you and your partner so it would seem that you live where your listing is located. 

Your listing also states that the hosts will be on board during the guest's stay.  

So, where exactly is your residence and which country issued your Government ID? I see that you have been verified by Airbnb. 

[Clare0]

@Ruth175 So, can you get some form of exemption from VAT from what ever authorities exist for this kind of thing?  All Airbnb is doing is following EU rules so if you can provide some kind of documentation that your are exempt from VAT, that would solve everything. 

[Ruth175]

@Clare0
Airbnb claims: "VAT, JCT and GST rates are calculated according to the local rate of the customer's country of residence".

My legal country of residency is NOT in this list: "Airbnb charges VAT on its service fees for customers from Albania, Belarus, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, the Bahamas, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates".

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/436/what-is-vat-and-how-does-it-apply-to-me

Airbnb has NO LEGAL BASIS to charge me VAT using my country of citizenship rate and ignore my requests to update data in the system.

Thank you for all your efforts, but I do not see any point to discuss this further.

[Clare0]

@Ruth175 I agree. Good luck to you!

[Emiel1]

Hello @Clare0 ,

A host pays VAT only on Airbnb servicecosts and cleaning fee (if any). So paying 3% or appr 3.6% servicecosts is not a big issue. I am curious which country of residence we are talking about here, as most European countries use a VAT tax system.  Some Airbnb Help pages mention a "Country of Residence section of your account settings", but it's not there (anymore). Exemption of VAT is a bureaucratic process, the small amount of paid tax does not justify the hassle.

Kind Regards,Emiel

[Clare0]

@Emiel1 Not being in the EU, I'll take you at your word.