Fees and Such

[Matthew199]

Hey there, 

Wondering if anyone can help me to understand how the fees work.  I just listed and got my first booking but when it showed me transaction breakdown it didn't seem to include the occupancy tax that was quoted in the listing and the service fee seemed very small.

Tried to attach photo but it doesn't seem to work.

When looking at listing it gives nightly rate, cleaning, service fee and occupancy tax.

When showing transaction pay out it gives nightly and cleaning minus a very small service fee and nothing for taxes.

Any info greatly appreciated, want to make sure i'm doing it right.

[Linda108]

@Matthew199  When you get a reservation confirmation you should see the nightly rate times the number of nights and any fees YOU charge.  The nightly rate may look funny because it would be an average of the nightly rates as I see you do have different rates depending on the dates selected.  You do not have an extra person charge, but if you did, that would also be combined into the nightly rate.  You do charge a cleaning fee, so that would also be shown.  Other fees such as the host fee are deducted and if there are any applicable discounts that would also be shown.

As to the occupancy tax, if Air BNB collects it and remits to the appropriate taxing agency, it is not paid out to you so it is not included on the payout information. It will show in your transactions, however.  If Air BNB does not collect and remit the tax, you can choose to include the tax in your nightly rate and self-report remit to the taxing agency or you can collect it separately via the Air BNB system..

Hope this helps.

[Matthew199]

Thanks Linda

I think I understand all that.  My confusion stems from the fact that Airbnb lists the tax on the listing page but when the transaction happened it seems like they didn't charge that amount?

So i thought they were collecting it but then it appears they didn't, did i miss setting something up?

[Linda108]

Hi @Matthew199.  Did you review the Help Article about where taxes are collected?  Here is a link:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/653/in-what-areas-is-occupancy-tax-collection-and-remittance-by-...

It seems that there are several levels of taxing agencies there and only some of the taxes are collected by Air BNB.  You may still have local taxes to collect.

My point before is that the summary of the expected payment is about what you will be paid.  You are not paid the taxes unless you include them in your nightly rate.  I don't know where you find "Airbnb lists the tax on the listing page" as I don't see it on my page.  I do include in my description that there is a 10% occupancy tax in my city but it is not automated by Air BNB.

In my experience, Air BNB provided information about the tax collected on my behalf in a note at the end of the reservation confirmation.  Also, there is no host responsibility to opt for this process as Air BNB contracts with the taxing agency to do this, not with the individual hosts.

[Matthew199]

I'll check it out.

Thanks for the help Linda!!