New Airbnb taxes in MA

Jane89
Level 2
Holliston, MA

New Airbnb taxes in MA

What are Massachussets hosts doing about new taxes on hosts?

196 Replies 196

@Jamie365, most of my July 1 and later bookings were made before AirBnB added taxes to our listings in June. After conversations with Airbnb and on this forum, I am not doing anything. I also did not receive any communications from Airbnb. We are not responsible for collecting taxes. 

Sweet!  Then I'm doing the same. LOL

@Anne226did you register with the state?  Do I still need to do that if AirBNB is responsible for taxes?

Not yet. Yes, I believe we all are supposed to register. If Airbnb reports our earnings to the state, I wonder how they’ll address the bookings that were not taxed after July 1.

@Jamie365and @Anne226 
Yes, as I understand it, we still need to register even if all rentals are via Airbnb so that DOR can link up the payments on our behalf as one possible reason but the other is for the non-tax parts of bill that are more requirements based.

As to the bookings that were not taxed but should have been:
(From another post I made elsewhere)

You as host are NOT responsible for taxes on any Airbnb rental, THEY are.

In email from Jennifer DeSimone (MA DOR), she wrote: "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."

In response to my final point on email to her regarding incorrect tax handling, where I wrote:
"Hopefully this type of thing won't affect us because if they are supposed to charge tax and don't, us as hosts don't want to be held responsible for their mistakes!"

@Jamie365 
As to percentages: It's 5% for state from that law plus a 0.7% surtax from another older law + 4% local Dennis tax  (of the 6% max) + 2.75% Cape & Islands Wastewater fund.

Hi John,

I have a Chatham home that I rent via Airbnb.

Does Chatham have the community impact tax and the wastewater tax?  If so, do you need to go down to town hall to arrange that part of payment.  II signed up with the state yesterday.  

 I find all of this utterly confusing.  Did Airbnb start to collect the state portion of the tax?  If so, when did they start?  If so, why do we need to sign up with Mass Connect?  I imagine bookings made earlier in the year for after July 1st I will have to pay??

 

Thanks for reading and for any insights.

Karen

@Karen1473 
I would have replied sooner but didn't know you'd asked me because I wasn't tagged via the @userid  thing and that little tornado that left me without access for a couple of days plus this forum does NOT make finding new posts easy - it's quite difficult actually!

Anyway, we need to sign up with DOR so that they have a data base of hosts for tracking purposes and other functions even if we don't have any taxes to remit IF all payments are via intermediary like Airbnb.  I presume you've seen the email quote from Jen at DOR (it's a couple+ of posts above this one here) that I posted where it's made clear that it's ALL Airbnb's problem/issue, not us for ANY rentals paid thru them no matter when they occurred.

Chatham has only the WW tax, not any CIF (that's only Plymouth so far that I know of). I'm not sure when Airbnb began collecting but I believe they are either doing it correctly now or close to it but again, NOT our problem!

If you get paid rent DIRECT from guest for any rent/fee, then you are responsible to collect and remit tax.

Maureen96
Level 2
Northampton, MA

Hi 

 

Firstly I'd like to thank John47 in Chatham for such good help through this rocky process. If you ever find yourself looking to stay in Western Mass, I will offer you a discount!

 

I am gearing up to register with the state, but it seems like it's primarily focused on collecting taxes. Since I only book through Airbnb and they are collecting the taxes, I really won't need a tax ID number. What am I missing here?

 

John, I'd like to reach out to your contact Jen at the DOR. Do you have an email address? I searched this forum but could not find it. 

 

Thanks, Maureen

@Maureen96 
You're welcome! I'm just trying to help those who're not as familiar with this as I have become (including speaking up at a public hearing on the tax law early on). I don't travel off-Cape while here as busy with cottages plus have vision issues that prevent driving more than about 25 miles from home so wouldn't be able to make use of your kind offer.

As I understand it, even though DOR registration is primarily tax based, they are building a data base of those doing rentals for the other portions of the bill, like insurance requirements and building inspections, etc. so I would still register to be in full compliance and use your personal TIN/SSN as many of us do for the rental income.

Jennifer is reachable via  desimonej@dor.state.ma.us

Darryl58
Level 2
Somerville, MA

Airbnb wants hosts to either do a "Special Offer" for each and every guest you book - that includes the tax (yes, my guests will find that very "special" indeed...) or you can collect it directly (even worse...and frankly, unprofessional).  Is there a formal organized group of MA hosts? I would like to lobby Airbnb hard to handle the collection and payment of these taxes as part of their platform services – and transparently show the tax to guests at the time of booking.  I cannot fathom their failure to be ready to do this for their host customers here in MA.  They knew these taxes were beginning July 1 and had plenty of time to set themselves up to provide a basic tax calculation as this is clearly part of their responsibilities as financial intermediary. 

If anyone is aware of such a group, please let me know as I'd like to get involved.  I accept having to pay the tax - but let’s not add insult to injury over simple collection mechanics well within the technological capabilities of Airbnb as an organization.

@Darryl58 AirBNB is already collecting the tax. There is no need for a special offer. Have you read both threads about the taxes? Lots of great information which should allay your concerns.

@Darryl58 

Where exactly did you did such misleading info about this tax collection? I know that Airbnb isn't exactly well informed on it (at least at the customer service level)  but i don't think they are THAT bad either.

 

Have you read any of this thread or the other one? Like the post (currently third one from top of this page 11) that I replied to Jamie and Anne with the quote from Jen at DOR where she clearly states we are NOT responsible at all for collecting or reporting when rental done via Airbnb?

It seems everyone has spoken to Ms. Desimone at MDOR...and I hope you are all correct about it not being our responsibility. But:  

1. I can see the financial breakout for guests that just booked with me yesterday for August and there is no reference put to them about an occupancy tax due - and their economics do not reflect a tax paid as part of their booking.

2. Since I have yet to collect any, that would mean that Airbnb is currently the only participant here who could be doing it.

3. If that is true, are they paying it themselves as an organization directly to MDOR?  I would seriously doubt that…they are a private company on track to go public and wouldn’t want to show that cash drain.  And even if it were the case, how would they know where to remit it on my behalf to make sure I'm appropriately credited with the Commonwealth?  I know the specifics of my MDOR tax account info but Airbnb does not as of yet – and, moreover, their site wouldn't take that information from me when I tried to input it.  Did you all successfully register your MDOR Tax Id Numbers with Airbnb? Maybe it’s just me…

4. I just had (last 72 hours) a conversation with Airbnb both live on the phone and also through their customer service portal where they told me that I needed to inform guests about the tax, collect it, and remit it.

5. There seems to be continuing disconnect here and I can’t help but think that when push comes to shove, the State of Massachusetts is going to be looking for that money from the tax entities we all had to establish with MDOR to comply. Hope I’m wrong. 

Retraction - a guest just told me that he IS being charged an occupancy tax (despite me not being able to see it at my end) so that at least helps with where the money is coming from.  But how do they know it belongs to my specific Tax ID number at MDOR?  Thanks.