Hi there. I’m pretty new to hosting, just 3 months in. I live in South Carolina, where Airbnb collects and remits state and county taxes on our behalf. Problem is, they’re collecting (and I assume remitting) for the wrong county. Ive called them 3x and each time was told they’ll “look into it” but nothing has changed, and no one has called me back. One rep sent me an email and said I could use that thread for updates, but they haven’t responded to that, either. Any advice? I’m a little disappointed that they don’t seem to be concerned about it.
They are more responsive if you contact them through Twitter for some reason.
I rent in SC as well. When they first started collecting the state tax I noticed a discrepancy too. I finally figured out that they were adding their service fee to my taxable items (rent, cleaning, pet fee, etc.) I doubt if all the customer reps know about this. There is a deduction line near the end of the online form where you can deduct your taxable total with the explanation that it was collected and paid on your behalf by Airbnb.
Hmmm. That’s good to know, but the problem is they’re collecting/remitting Berkeley County taxes on my behalf and the property (which is also my home) is not in Berkeley County. Which means the taxes are not being collected/remitted to the county the property is actually in. They somehow got it wrong from the start and now I can’t get them to fix it.
Wow, sorry I missed that you said they are collecting for the wrong county. I guess you should call the state and see what they say about it. As you now know, you cannot actually contact or talk to anyone at Airbnb who actually knows anything about this…
Any progress on that? Were you able to figure out how to fix the issue?
I noticed the same thing, Airbnb is collecting the taxes wrong, they collect twice what they should be collecting. I am not sure what to do about that?
GOOD LUCK trying to get Airbnb to correct tax issues. I’ve been trying since they started in July of 2019!!! I have finally taken to posting on their Facebook page and Mr Chesky’s Twitter account. Following is what I posted on FB, their response and my rebuttal. Sorry it’s so long but I have over 130 emails documenting their REFUSAL to stop OVERCHARGING guests.
Jun 2, 2020, 10:48 AM Home | Airbnb Help Center airbnb.com
Seems as if Airbnb deleted my previous post about their overcharging NM guests on sales tax (GRT). I am reposting my original and their response. I cannot figure out why they refuse to fix this.
Beware if you are a host in New Mexico. Our state has multiple GRT (sales tax) rates that vary according to your location. I have been battling Aibnb since they started collecting the tax for New Mexico LAST JULY. That’s 2019, folks, now going on 11 months because they are collecting the wrong tax rate for my location!!! They’ve admitted the rate needs to be fixed but it could take several weeks. That was in September 2019. VRBO had the same problem but they managed to fix it in a matter of weeks. New Mexico has a searchable map where you can verify what your tax rate should be. Hosts should verify their guests are not being overcharged.
Charles G, Jun 2, 2020, 8:37:37 AM PDT:
Hello Donald,
Charles here with Airbnb and I can see you have had ongoing issue with local tax collection in your area.
As you can see by the provided information that the percentages can vary and it also includes Guest Service Fees. The tax is calculated based on the “listing price including any cleaning fee and guest fee”. This amount that the guest pays in service fees is not accessible by hosts due to privacy concerns. This means that if you do attempt to calculate the amount it will seem incorrect.
Guest service fees
The guest service fee for homes ranges between 0% and 20% of the booking subtotal (the nightly rate plus cleaning fee and additional guest fee, if applicable, but excluding Airbnb fees and taxes) and is calculated using a variety of factors—these include the reservation subtotal, the length of the stay, and characteristics of the listing. In general, the service fee gets lower as the reservation cost gets higher. Guests see this fee on the checkout page before they book a reservation.
New Mexico State, NM
Guests who book Airbnb listings that are located in New Mexico State, NM will pay the following taxes as part of their reservation:
Gross Receipts Tax: 5.125% - 8.6875% of the listing price including any cleaning fees and guest fees
Airbnb has no bearing on the percentages charged when there is a range as this is controlled by your local tax authority. I have determined the amount of tax collected does fall within the states range of 5.125% - 8.6875% and therefore a correction by Airbnb would not be possible.
I hope this answers your question and any further information about the Voluntary Collection Agreement in your area should be redirected to your local tax authority.
Airbnb appreciates your business and values you as a host!
Best Regards,
Charles www.airbnb.com/help
Oh Charles you are wrong on so many points.
I can do an anonymous booking and see what the guest fee is and therefore know you are overcharging guests. I can calculate to the penny what you are charging and what you SHOULD charge.
There is a range of tax rates in NM because they are based on SPECIFIC locations which is why NM Taxation and Revenue publishes an interactive map so ANYONE can determine what their tax rate should be. You can either drill down on the map, or search for a specific address. It’s not that hard Airbnb, even you can do it. http://tax.newmexico.gov/gross-receipts-tax-historic-rates.aspx
The range isn’t given so that people, or Airbnb, can choose a rate they like.
As I have said in the past ad nauseam VRBO got it right; why does Airbnb REFUSE to collect the correct tax and instead INSISTS on OVERCHARGING guests?
I seem to have gotten some attention but I can’t figure out what did it. Tweets to Mr Chesky or posting on Fakebook? I’m guessing the latter so I will have to post this response there along with my response. I am not going to accept Airbnb overcharging guests because if they’re overcharging my guests, it’s quite likely they’re overcharging a lot of guests that stay in New Mexico.