Massachusetts New Guest Tax???

[Ken-and-Kathleen0]

AirBnB collects and remits taxes in 40+ states, PR and the US Virgin Islands, but for some reason, the tax they were a proponent of in Massachusetts is not even mentioned.

There have been no updates by AirBnB on how they are going to help their hosts handle this tax which according to the State information includes all fees cleaning, and service (AirBnB Service Fee?) and the Security Deposit.

The bulk of Massachusetts AirBnB revenue in Massachusetts would have to come from Summer Rentals in places like the Cape, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the Berkshires. 

Without some sort of resolution, or at least notice from AirBnB we're faced with either eating the tax, reporting costs, etc. or just cancelling all of our summer reservations. 

[Noëlle13]

I  just checked out a 31+ day stay on my listing and no tax was listed. It is listed for shorter stays.

[Erica330]

Where are you seeing the tax listed?

[John47]

@Mark1627 
The other issues where ABB is currently seeming to not follow the law (as of now) is: the exemption for B&B homes and the CIF's (Community Impact Fee) which only apply to certain properties. 
I senet an email to Jennifer DeSimone at DOR yesterday regarding this and seh said they are working with ABB on these items so maybe it'll eventually get worked out.

[Carolyn31]

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@Mark1627 wrote:

I've set a minimum 32 nights stay as we tend to rent our Newton House for 90 days on average. 

Will airbnb mistakingly collect taxes from our guests? If so, when will they correct that and how does the guest get a refund.

Its unlawful to collect a tax from a customer that is not due.

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I just tested by searching for a place to stay from Jan 1, 2020 - Feb 2, 2020 and no tax was included in the total amount due.

[John47]

FYI: This is part of email that I sent tonight to Jennifer at the MA DOR:
"I see that Airbnb is still not getting their tax right when it come to Service Fees. I was checking out one of my listings for another reason and using a FireFox Private Window to better emulate a guest, I put in dates that I have open. The tax it computed is NOT including the Service Fee because if it did, it should be more like $98 instead of $87."

[Gregory31]

John (and anyone else)...

In any case it is my understanding that it is airbnb's responsibility to get it right - to charge our guests, and send the $ to the state.  Correct?

This is obviously their job since they rake in a fortune from fees from both guests and hosts.  They need to earn it.

I love airbnb as a long time host/superhost and a frequent guest, but please, can't they just assign a competent staff person and get this right?

I live in Cambridge and they now have 3 new taxes for airbnb as well as an inspection/permit/annual fee process on top of the new state tax.  Of course none of the 5 or more agencies will do anything extra for the money, but they are getting the money...that is the point...

Has anyone suffered a decline in interest since July 1?  I have...one of airbnb's attractions was its affordability compared to super expensive hotels and regular bnbs...now that is seriously compromised...so much for the middle class...

Best,
Greg

[John47]

@Gregory31 
Just a few min ago, i got email back from Jennifer:
"Good morning John,

The intermediary ultimately are the ones responsible for the taxes collected and reported, not the hosts.  I will let our legal folks know about this and see about reaching out to Airbnb but again.  This is probably going to take some time for everyone to settle in.

Jen"

So YES, it's not our problem! And for some taxes, like those CIF (Comm Impact Fee), they have to be sent directly to EACH town/city so Airbnb definitely has some work to do!

I haven't seen any change in interest, but then again, I only have a handful of openings after my repeat/regular tenants have booked but even those have been a bit slower though in some cases, it's due to unique changes in their schedule that was cause.

[Mary105]

@Gregory31    I just submitted my registration application to the City of Cambridge and plan to register with the MA DOR this coming week.   I see the ABB has three taxes listed...Do you know what the % is for each of the Cambridge taxes?

Lodging Tax (Cambridge)

Accommodations Tax (Cambridge)

Accommodations Tax (Massachusetts)

[John47]

@Mary105 
The MA State portion is 5.7% (5% from one law + 0.7% from another law)
The Cambridge accommodations is 6% (the max of the 0%-6% local option)
The lodging is probably the one that I found on the DOR site as this:
In the cities of Boston, Worcester, Cambridge, Springfield, West Springfield, and Chicopee, an additional 2.75% tax is charged for convention center funding. See TIR 05-01 for more information.

So your total is 14.45%, based on those three parts.

[Mary105]

@John47   Thank you for clarifying...I missed that part about the convention center funding.  

[Jamie365]

So when you register with the State DOR do you register as an individual or business.  I don't have this set up as a business.  This is all very confusing.  None of my summer listings have taxes collected because they were all booked before July 1st and they only started collecting for reservations made AFTER July 1st.  So I'm going to have to request taxes for all of my reservations and submit myself it looks like?  Can anyone help? 

[John47]

@Jamie365  I think I registered as a individual sole proprietor but don't recall exact setup as agree it was confusing. 
As to any any taxes on Airbnb that should have been collected by them, see my reply to @Gregory31 on past Friday with quote from Jen at DOR where she says it's totally Airbnb who is responsible, not us.

We are only to collect/remit on any rent paid DIRECTLY to us, not via any listing website, ok?

[Tim808]

@John47  I apologize for hijacking this thread for a different question, but you seem so knowledgeable about all of this. 

I've read up on all of the new short-term rental tax laws and have a good understanding of it. However, I went onto Airbnb's occupancy tax breakdown and noticed some inconsistencies. They charged guests 14.45% (which is accurate) on the bookings of 3 or more nights, but charged more (closer to 17%) to guests who only booked for 1 or 2 nights. Has anyone else seen this? Airbnb support won't give me a straight answer about why.  

[John47]

@Tim808 
No hijack as definitely related to this new STR tax! I'm no expert but have had a lot of dealings with it and DOR thus far.
Assuming you're in Barnstable, the 14.45% is correct based on 5.7 MA+6 local+2.75 WW.
There shouldn't be any additional based on length of stay, esp for such short terms. I don't have any good explanation of that because IF Barnstable had implemented the CIF (like Plymouth), i could then see a remote chance of that applying but i doubt that.
Let me look at your listing (may not be right away) and see if I find any clues.
BTW, you have registered with DOR as an Operator, right? To satisfy the OTHER parts of the law. 

UPDATE: Tried a few examples on your listing - 1 nite=ok, 2 nite=ok, 3 nite in Sept=ok, 3 nite in Aug with 1 weekend nite = wrong! Got $83 instead on $80. Weird!

[Tim808]

@John47  Yeah, it's definitely weird. There shouldn't be any variances when it comes to tax rate and the fact that Airbnb won't answer my question directly is frustrating.