mexican income tax charged to US residents on rentals AIRBNB

Judi1002
Level 1
Boulder, CO

mexican income tax charged to US residents on rentals AIRBNB

I am so frustrated.. Ive been renting through Airbnb  for years now..  I have always paid  income tax in the USA on my rental.. NOW They have just recently started taking a HUGE mount out of my payouts although  I was assured last month from customer support .. the following below .. this is copied and pasted  . (and  I cant reach anyone now. no one returns calls or emails ! )

 

I'm contacting you in regard to your last communication, and your need for clarification, on the Mexican Tax Withholding. 
As we speak the country of residence registred in your Airbnb account is set as United States. What it means is that taking in consideration a series of factors (Phone number, nationality of ID, Payout & Payment method, IP address) our system have determined that your account is attach to the jurisdiction of the United States. 
As such we will not withhold any Mexican Tax withholding or Mexican VAT on your payout. 
Please keep in mind that the factors highlighted before are subject to change depending on your activity, which may result in a reactive adjustement of your country of residence if several of these factors were to be close to another jurisdiction. 
The only Tax your listings may be subject to at this stage is the occupancy tax, and only a limited amount of city's in Mexico are requesting such tax, which is only paid by the guest. 
9 Replies 9
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Judi1002 I would be very wary of taking tax advice from Airbnb. What are the tax rules in Mexico? I would be amazed (but happy to be educated) if you can rent out a place in any country in the world and not be expected to pay tax in that country.

Judi1002
Level 1
Boulder, CO

thanks for the reply. no... mexico and the usa have a tax treaty. you dont pay double taxes. We pay a hotel accomodation tax  to the authourities but not mexico income tax. its airbnb fault.  i submitted my info they requesed but are still double taxing me.. !

We are required to pay taxes on on our income on our Mazatlan properties in the U.S. and Mexico.  We have accountants in both countries and this is the law.

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Judi1002 With the UK-US dual tax treaty an American with UK property would pay tax in the UK on the property rental and then get a credit in America do that they don't get taxed twice. I assumed all tax treaties were similar.

Debbie-And-Arnulfo0
Level 3
San Antonio, TX

I should be are required to report (not necessarily pay) income to both countries.  We give our U.S. accountant all the info that we payed to SAT (Mexican taxes).  They do all the calculations.  I would suggest that you have an accountant that is very familiar with the international and often changing regulations.  

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Judi1002  You are misinformed. You have to pay income tax and occupancy tax to the Mexican tax dept. for any listing in Mexico. 

The tax treaty doesn't mean you don't report earnings and pay tax in both countries, it means you can't be double taxed. So any taxes you pay in Mexico will be deducted from the taxes you owe in the US. 

 

And you may be able to claim even more deductions in the US, as the only expenses you can deduct in Mexico are the ones you have official facturas for issued to your RFC number, whereas in the US, you may be able to deduct all expenses you have any type of receipt for.

Judi1002
Level 1
Boulder, CO

HI. Iif I am misinformed  Thats because  Airbnb told me this information.. If you read my original post  you will see the information that AIRBNB sent me   . Thanks for your reply.. 

@Judi1002  Yes, Airbnb CS reps do not understand this at all. That info they sent you is not correct. It isn't true at all, for instance, that "only a limited amount of cities" are requiring occupancy tax. For one thing, Mexican occupancy tax is state-based, not city based. Different states in Mexico have different occupancy tax rates. And I am having to charge guests myself for the occupancy tax, and submit it to the tax dept.- Airbnb isn't charging it to the guest. 

 

Airbnb are not tax experts. You really need a Mexican accountant who can deal with this for you.

They are told what to take out . they are already taking all of these amounts out of my payouts . one person there says one thing another says somthing else. they have NO IDEA what they are doing at all !