Atlanta GA Tax Rate - sudden double digit percentage tax rate increase in 31 day or more bookings

[Helene-and-Eric0]

Atlanta has a very high tax rate for bookings of 30 days or more, it makes a lot of shorter stays just not worth it as we have some of the highest taxes on STR in the world. One thing that is helpful is that if the booking was 31 days or longer the rate is considerably lower, so if guests are booking close to the 31 days I always encourage them to book the 31 days as it would save them hundreds of dollars in occupancy taxes. It's been this way for years. Well I just noticed on a recent booking of over 31 days that Airbnb charged the guest a super high tax rate. They just arbitrarily stopped imposing the correct rate for longer term bookings which is illegal and highly unethical and there's no way for me to get it corrected. I've raised the issue to Airbnb "customer service" which is like yelling into the void. It's just a call center and no one has any real authority to fix their system. Is anyone else noticing this? For example, last month I had a guest who stayed over 31 days and her tax rate came out to around 10% of their booking price, and now someone else just booked for over 31 days and it's almost 30% of their booking price! How does this even make sense? Does Airbnb do this arbitrarily or is this a glitch or something worse? I'm not getting anywhere with customer service and I feel they are ripping guests off! Anyone else in Atlanta experiencing this? Who do I even report this to? Is Airbnb even paying this to the City of Atlanta since it's not the actual tax rate for stays over 31 days?

[Jenn24]

Hi - yes this is happening to our Guest stays as well -- all the numbers (outside of what I plug in for the accommodations) are wrong on extensions for any length of time!!!!  Including addition of occupancy taxes to stays that are 90 days plus and fully exempt!

I did not realize this was happening myself since I can't see the prior total for the Guest in the alteration tool; the Guest's informed me. 

I have not yet been able to get any assistance regarding what is going on. I have support looking into it again. I don't see anything online relative to changes taking place. This is the first post I have found! Please let me know if you have learned anything else since posting!! 

[Steve2584]

NEED ACTUAL PERSONS QUALIFIED TO HELP...

Friday

... WITH THINGS LIKE MY PROBLEM, THAT SUPPORT ISN'T TRAINED TO DO. HOW CAN I GET REAL HELP WITH AN ISSUE THAT IS LIKELY TO BE VERY WIDESPREAD AND DISRUPTIVE FOR AIRBNB? I HAVE REAL EXAMPLES OF A TAX PROBLEM THAT I'VE TRIED TO GET ADDRESSED FOR 5 WEEKS. THERE IS NO WAY THAT MY TAX RECIPIENTS (STATE, ETC) HAVE INCREASED THE TAX DUE FOR BOOKINGS WITH A 599% INCREASE! HOW DOES A BOOKING WITH THE SAME FACTORS, HAVE A TAX CHARGE THAT WAS $79 AND NOW IS $559?? AND THE $559 IS 43% OF THE ACTUAL TOTAL RATE ON THE PLACE. TOTAL OF CHARGES FOR ALL NIGHTS IS $1350 AND THEN A TAX OF $559 IS APPLIED TO THAT AMOUNT!!?? THATS A MAJOR MISTAKE THAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED. HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF GUESTS ARE BEING WRONGLY CHARGED??