New Airbnb taxes in MA

[Jane89]

What are Massachussets hosts doing about new taxes on hosts?

[Susan151]

@John47  I have yet to receive any communication from AirBNB about the new law. NOTHING. And I am exempt [not that my guests can tell this since they are being charged.]

[John47]

@Susan151i looked it up - i got email on Jun 20 - do you want to see copy of it? Bit too long to post here, I think.

[Anne226]

I'd like to see it John. I'm also on the Cape and did not receive any communications from Airbnb re: taxes. Also, what allows a listing to be exempt?

[Kathy80]

Hi John,

I haven't seen it either; could you forward it to me at daniel@danieljlieberman.com, please?

[John47]

@Kathy80Sure will but just now seeing your post so thus the delay, ok? This site is LOUSY at making NEW posts to a thread stand out unless you reply using the @ to tag someone directly.

[Barbara-And-Randy0]

Airbnb is already adding the Mass Short Stay Excise and local Town Fee to reservations booked for our Airbnb after July 1st 2019. I believe it is 5.3% for the State and my town is 6%. In fact our Airbnb is considered a "home bed and breakfast" under the new Law so it is EXEMPT from the new State Tax and Local Fees, 

TIR 19-3: Changes to the Room Occupancy Excise in An Act Regulating and Insuring Short-Term Rentals:

B. EXEMPTIONS

• bed and breakfast homes (i.e. private owner-occupied homes with three or fewer rented rooms where breakfast is included).

We meet the criteria for the exemption but after emailing and calling Airbnb directly they have told me they are going to add the new Tax to every Airbnb in Massachusetts and the local Town/City Fees and will not recognize any Exemptions. I guess it is too labor intensive to see which Airbnb's qualify. They said the Tax and Fee's will be collected by them in the reservation and will be paid out monthly to the Towns/Cities and State as a lump sum and it will not even be broke down as to where ( which locations/Airbnb's) it was actually collected from. So I will not be registering my home bed and breakfast since I am truly Exempted by the State of Massachusetts. You cannot even opt out of this collection to do it yourself!!! If you do not believe me I would not be surprized. I actually did not believe the lack of help from Airbnb since they have been pretty good with any questions and concerns we have had up to now. 

[John47]

@Barbara-And-Randy0 
It's 5.7% for the state - technically it's 5% but then there's a separate surtax on the 5% that makes another 0.7%! Took me a while to find that out as it's buried in some laws from many years ago.
While I do object to the fact that there are exemptions (because if I am taxed, eveyone should be, just like the hotels were saying before), the lack of Airbnb following the law is troubling and i would notify Jennifer DeSimone from the MA DOR about this.
And - it's MY understanding that while you may be exempt from the tax portion of the law, i believe you still need to register so that state and local govts can track STR properties and you are still subject to the other provisons of law, like insurance and such.

[John47]

@Barbara-And-Randy0 
Since I've had previous ineraction via email/voice w Jennifer, I just emailed her about these issues as i was curious about the DOR's position on this. If/when I get a reply, I'll post back here, ok?

[Susan151]

@Barbara-And-Randy0 @John47  And so AirBNB has decided to flagrently break the law? There is a reason that this exception was in the bill. Ugh. I guess we have to find each other and threaten a law suit, though I think the Commonwealth should actually be the enforcer; not on-site hosts.

[John47]

@Susan151 
As I said elsewhere, as one now subject  to the tax, on principle I find that exemption grossly unfair and if I am taxed, so should ANY STR using Airbnb. But for ABB to ignore that, which can ONLY be determined (IMHO) by the individual host, not ABB, is a definite issue, as is the possiblity of them collecting the 3%+ CIF on all rentals in Plymouth and other towns that have voted that extra fee in.

[John47]

@Barbara-And-Randy0  @Susan151 
Got a reply from Jennifer at DOR (She's the lead person on this STR thing):
"Yes, we are aware of this and in the process of working on this with Airbnb.  We will include part of this email in our correspondence with them.  Please let me know if you continue to hear this as being a problem.

Thank you.

Jen"

I had pointed her to @Barbara-And-Randy0 post above and quoted part of it. So I think we can give DOR a chance to knock some sense into Airbnb on this, ok?

[John47]

FYI: I just finished submitting my registration for my cottages with the DOR and the website wasn't as bad as I had thought, though in some places, seemed repetitive as address had to be entered more than once.
I had already set up my account before to get the small business energy exemption which I qualify for.
They give you a set of checkboxes for months of operation when not year round so hopefully that means that I can skip dealing with DOR in the winter off-season.

[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."

[John47]

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!

[Jamie365]

I'm still having a lot of issues with this whole situation.  Airbnb is saying they are collecting taxes on reservations after July 1st but all of my reservations were made prior to July 1st.  It also doesn't say what percentage they are collecting as I live on the Cape and have additional wastewater, etc.  Does anyone have any insight on how to move forward?  I received ZERO communication from Airbnb regarding these changes.