Airbnb to be targeted in Quebec bill

Similar to what San Francisco has done, Quebec is going to be discussing passing a bill that would impose an accommodation tax, similar to what hotels charge, on owners who rent out their properties on rental sites such as Airbnb.

Full article here:

They would be the first province to consider doing so but if passed, I imagine other provinces would be quick to follow.

Indeed. I actually can’t wait for Airbnb to be regulated in Quebec. I’m based in Montreal and I did a public “Airbnb coming out” to promote my online course AirbnbSecrets in the medias. Since then, the government has been bullying me for all sorts of things including asking me to back pay taxes that are currently impossible to collect on the Airbnb platform. The regulation of Airbnb will be the best thing to happen for all Hosts because the government will be able to collect the taxes they want to collect. It will also establish clear rules about online home sharing. And yes, I think many other provinces in Canada will follow. According to this 2013 article, B.C. sure is watching what’s happening in Quebec with Airbnb:
http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/690027/b-c-eyeing-airbnb-crackdown-in-quebec/

In Hawaii we have to have an excise license and charge the hotel accommodations tax. I don’t have a problem with this and guests don’t mind paying it. No getting around it here either-- they’ve got us coming and going. :slight_smile:

Definitely keep an eye on legislation. The taxes will actually help legitimize Airbnb but doing so at the cost of being able to rent out your home for more than just a few nights a year might not be worth it.

San Jose passed some decent compromise legislation that set the limit at 180 days for entire homes, which is much more reasonable than San Francisco’s 90 days. Ideally, however, it would allow for at least 300 days.

What doesn’t Quebec overtax?

I just want a level playing field here in the US. 1 mile away in the D.C. airbnb does collect the taxes, but not in my county, The average guest is not going to realize this. I collect them in cash when the guest checks in. It makes our business look like an amateur. I’m surprised only one guest has questioned my tax-collecting. Luckily she had stayed in San Francisco so I could show here that she was paying that tax in other airbnb, just to air not to the host.