Air b&b fees

[Melissa1890]

New to hosting and there are so many host fees! Why does air b&b consider the cleaning fee to be income for the host?? That’s what I have to pay out to my cleaners after each stay so that is not profit by any means.

[Gwen386 · Accepted solution]

Some hosts, like me, don’t even charge a cleaning fee. Now granted, my studio apt is way smaller than your 3 BRs, 2.5 baths with pool, but you could consider either charging a higher cleaning fee or clean it yourself. Also, you do get to write the cleaner’s fee off as an expense at the end of the year. 

[Wendy1409]

A lot of their policies are unfavorable to hosts.  I'd try to work your cleaning costs into the rental fee instead, and not charge a cleaning fee.  As long as you document your expenses, you can still use them as a deduction on your taxes. 

[M199]

@Melissa1890 

FYI,  a lot of countries require Goods and Services, or VAT tax on items such as Cleaning and Pet fees.  These are subject to Income Tax Legislation of your country. Airbnb is a marketing/tech service for hosts to advertise their business, they are required to adhere to every tax legislation where they provide their services.  All they are doing is requiring their hosts to adhere to local legislation.

For example, in Canada, all goods and services are subject to taxes.

As well, in Canada, the vendor (host) collects the tax, but gets a credit for their business related tax expenses, such as taxes paid for supplies to offset the tax owing. 

Running an Airbnb is considered a business and therefore are required by law to file business Income and Expenses to the required city, state, province, country, whichever applies to your situation.

1 - Income from room rates, cleaning fees, etc, subject to taxes.

Less...

2 - Expenses  such as cleaning staff, property taxes, utilities, etc.

Don't know where you are, but I would, respectfully, suggest you contact a tax accountant because no one on this discussion board can likely or legally answer your question.

Good luck.