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I have been trying to figure this out with Airbnb customer service for weeks now. I have spoken on the phone with at least 4 people that have said they would escalate the issue to some sort of specialist team but every time no one reaches out. I have even been told on the online chat cool things like âNothing is ever good enough for you so now its my turn to take over.â And then when I asked for a phone call they said âWe will call you when it suits us.â When I asked for some sort of identification number the response was âWe are humans not computers we donât have id numbersâ And then the finally was him setting a phone appointment for 2am in the morning and ending the conversation!
Anyways, now I am reaching out here in hopes that someone can help me. I am Canadian so itâs somewhat Canadian specific but here goes.
So it has to do with the discrepancy between the âOccupancy Taxesâ charge to my guests versus the Occupancy taxes remitted on my behalf under the Transaction history. Here is the example I am dealing with
Iâm in BC Canada and I have 5% GST, 7% PST, 3% VAT(I Think). So why are the total taxes remitted less than the taxes being charged? You can see the first total for Occupancy taxes was $725.5 and then the total being remitted is $461.93? Does anyone understand why this would be?
Can you post a screenshot of the entire breakdown for the booking on the transaction page?
Airbnb calls both the GST and the PST âOccupancy taxesâ and lumps them together. They are submitting them on your behalf if they arenât releasing any of it to you, but the discrepancy in what they charged the guest and what they say on the transaction page is mysterious.
No, you shouldnât be paying 3% VAT- VAT is what we call GST in Canada. The 3% is the service fee that Airbnb charges hosts and Airbnb adds VAT on that and the cleaning fee and deducts that from your payout.
In my case, as my listing is in Mexico and the way Airbnb collects and remits taxes is different in different areas, they actually release half the VAT (aka GST, aka IVA in Mexico) and all of the state occupancy tax to hosts to submit, and submits the other half of the VAT to the Mex. tax dept. But according to your payout, they arenât releasing any of the taxes charged to the guest to you to submit yourself.
One thing I can tell you from my own experience is that asking CS for tax explanations was an exercise in futility.
Hey Muddy! Thanks for helping out. When I click on the booking on the transaction history page it only gives me a spreadsheet download. Here is what it looks like
Okay that makes more sense. But is it possible there is a regional tax they are collecting on my behalf? I am in Revelstoke FYI. Because I canât for the life of me figure out where they even arrive at these occupancy tax numbers. When you look at what the guest paid, if you add the nightly fee, the cleaning fee, and the guest service fee together it totals $5271.55. If you calculate 12% of that it only equals $632.59!?!?!?
This is also so true. I canât believe they can collect the taxes from our guests but not provide any information regarding the process or logic behind it!
It says â4 transactionsâ, but itâs a breakdown of one booking.
And youâre right- I donât know how they came up with that $725 occupancy taxes, either.
Do you have an accountant, or try to deal with all the tax stuff yourself? I had an impossible time trying to figure it out myself, until my accountant explained it to me. She deals with lots of Airbnbs, so she understands how they do things (and doesnât like it )
Well, I can see that yours isnât as detailed as mine, so itâs def not helpful in figuring out what they have done regarding taxes. No, sorry, my accountant isnât Canadian - sheâs Mexican, but also lived in the US for many years.
Even if you donât want to pay an accountant to look after all of your taxes, maybe you could find one who is familiar with Airbnb who you could pay just to explain it to you, if possible.
Thereâs another host on this forum from BC who might be able to help- @Spark- maybe you have some insight here?
The taxes are an arrangement between the various governments and Airbnb. It is entirely Airbnbâs responsibility to get it right â amount, collection and remittance. As BC hosts we have no legal responsibility for any of this.
Yes, they are in many cases, but not all. Personally I like to figure out what they are doing. Itâs not like they donât ever make accounting errors.
In my case, they withhold half the goods and services tax and my income tax on the bookings, remit that to the Mexican tax dept. , but pay me out half the goods and services tax and all the state occupancy tax, which I am responsible for remitting, so I and my accountant have to make sure their tax accounting is correct.
Airbnb collects the occupancy tax(es) from the guest and remits them to the government â even if they get that that wrong, thatâs between them and the government. I just donât pay attention to this.
Of course individual hosts have to pay income taxes and â if they are over the threshold â the GST⌠but that has nothing to do with occupancy taxes collected by Airbnb
Itâs good you donât have to deal with the occupancy taxes in BC. Airbnb has a different arrangement with the Mexican tax dept. and the equivalent of the GST is charged regardless of income, thereâs no threshhold- much more complicated on the hostsâ and their accountantsâ end.
I think the BC government knew if they left any of this in the hands of hosts, they would have to hire hundreds of auditors and collectors to make it work, because weâre so busy cleaning toilets and carefully arranging cut flowers for guests that weâd just f*ck up the tax bit.
But does it not seem like I am overcharging my guests if they are collecting more than they are remitting? Charging them extra taxes that could be in my nightly rate?
What about for your own tax purposes? Do you not claim any GST Input tax credits? Or have you never been questioned by the government as to why you are claiming so much business income but not declaring/remitting any GST Collected on Sales?
I see. This makes more sense. You should work for Airbnb Customer Support haha. But I still donât quite understand why 10%? Shouldnât it be 12% if we have a 5% Goods and Services Tax and a 7% Provincial Sales Tax?
Also, I may as well ask because you seem to know whatâs going on, do you claim any input tax credits in the US? In Canada you can offset the amount of GST you owe the government by claiming credits for the GST you paid on purchases to run your business. I also donât understand how this would work if Airbnb is remitting the taxes? Or does the GST Paid on Purchases just become a part of the expense you are claiming and you donât get a tax credit?
Hopefully that makes sense! Thanks for helping out!
This is slightly off topic but concerns the occupancy tax in the US. The town Iâm in, until this year if you only had 2 guests there was not an occupancy tax, but that was changed for hosts only having two guests.
The town requires hosts to submit the occupancy tax record monthly because Airbnb only gives the town the grand total and does not include what hosts it came from.
Guess theyâre trying to balance the books.
That may be true in the US, and maybe Canada and other places, but certainly isnât true in Mexico. What the guest is charged in taxes here matches up exactly with what Airbnb shows in my transactions and what they remit to the tax dept. and release to me to pay.
From my days doing a lot of business travel, hotels do not charge PST⌠they charge a âhotel taxâ instead. The tax used to vary from one municipality to the next, and combines municipal and provincial levy.
)
- sheâs Mexican, but also lived in the US for many years.