sales taxes

Deborah190
Level 2
North Creek, NY

sales taxes

Does Airbnb collect sales tax on behalf of its hosts?

23 Replies 23
Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

Air BNB collects occupancy tax for some cities, county, states, @Deborah190   Go to the Help Center and find the article about tax collection areas.

I tried to do exactly that, but it was pretty much a deadend giving instructions to contact your local agencies for specifics. 

Raf3
Level 2
San Francisco, CA

@Deborah312 Warren County has a 4% occupancy tax on top of NY state's sales tax. You may want to review my tax tips here before doing your taxes.

 

Go here to see what AirBnb is collecting:

  1. Go to Your Listing
  2. Click Manage Listing for the listing you'd like to view
  3. Above your listing photo, click Local laws

You can also confirm what taxes are being collected and remitted by looking for occupancy tax details in Manage Listing > Location, underneath the Address section.

This was a deadend for me as well:-(

Charlotte11
Level 3
Charlottesville, VA

AirBnB collects and remits sales taxes for hosts in just a handful of states and therefore lists the sales tax amount in the booking request.

 

I'm requesting a sales tax line item for the rest of us. Anyone else interested in that??

 

 

Definitely, and I'm in Louisa! I also have a condo in Florida where Airbnb must have a state agreement, as they collect and remit sales tax for me in that state.

Paul, you may know that AirBnB has been negotiating with the Virginia Dept of Revenue for a couple of years to get a sales tax agreement set up. ONE legislator tabled all the work we put in to this issue over a year ago and I don't see any forward progress since then.

Yes. I would like to see a sales tax line item for the state of Maryland. I just got of the phone with a representative from the State of Marlyand, and she was very clear that in the case of an audit, we are required to show a line item for the gross sale, and a line item for the tax amount collected (6%). I told her right now I pay 6% of the total amount collected, but it is only one line item. She said that is not approved by the state of Maryland in an audit. I would love for airbnb to respond and confirm if/when they can give the option for any host in any state to collect sales tax as a separate line item. 

Hello,

Yes, definitely. VRBO has that for many years. I have no way of showing my renters the taxes, that they are apart and do not give a correct pricing. There is no fair competition possible this way

Yes that is exactly what I am looking for.  I don't expenct Airbnb to remit my taxes for me,  but I would like to pass the tax through to the renter in a way that the renter can see that charge isn't going to the owner, but instead to the tax department.

UPDATE: AirBnB insists this problem is out of their hands, that it's an issue within localities and states. I'm working with a state legislator to see if we can have better luck in 2020 with a bill to mandate sales tax collection by AirBnB, like VRBO, etc. I'll check back in here with more info as I get it.

We are in Oregon and would like that option as well. How are we suppose to collect taxes from guests that Airbnb doesn’t do?

There should be a note on your account with AirBnB that explains your situation in your area. But if your state and/or locality require the collection and remittance of sales tax or transient lodging tax, you'll have to do it if AirBnB doesn't. Go to your local city or county hall and ask about the process. Do you have to register as a business? Do you have to collect and remit sales tax? Don't delay. If they stumble across your listing and find you haven't remitted taxes for the past periods, there will be fines and penalties as well as the taxes to pay. But often, they're quite helpful and want to get you up to speed as helpfully as possible.

Then, you can do as I do: as soon as someone requests to book, I send them the following message:

 
"Hi, there, and thanks for your interest in Butternut Cottage! I just need to make sure you noticed in my listing that I must collect and remit 12.3% local and state sales taxes? AirBnB is still negotiating with the VA Dept of Revenue to collect this for us but, in the meantime, we must. 
 
If that's OK, I can accept the reservation and send you an invoice for the taxes separately. "
 
 

Thanks for all your efforts regarding this sales tax issue! It's been very confusing to negotiate...

 

So does this mean that you don't use instant booking - or do you send your tax message after they've booked? I am chatting with Airbnb Support right now and they're saying to go through the resolution center...