I’m not clear on the new regulations re: charging GST. Is there any advantage to registering for a GST # and charging it vs letting Airbnb do it for me? Am I even understanding the options correctly?
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Hey, @Vanmep , I was wondering the same, so looked it up.
Apparently if you are under the threshold or claiming STR income as rental income, those exemptions will no longer apply as of July 1. All STR income will be subject to HST/GST. This is not from an official government site, however. It was just a post on the Toronto host FB group, so take that for what it’s worth.
If true, then one way or another it will be charged, and, yes, the options are either to register or to let Airbnb do it automatically.
The way I see it, the only advantage to registering is that you will be able to claim input tax credits when you remit. I have a number already, but if I didn’t, I think I would get one.
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Thanks @lawre . I’m wondering, and can’t seem to figure out, is whether there will appear to be a difference between listings that have a number and those that don’t. When a guest books, will some of the listings show that GST has been added and some listings look as though it has not been charged (even though the price is presumably higher as the host is paying on their own)? I may just call CS to see if I can understand this better.
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I would be very very wary of any advice given to you by Airbnb customer non service. After a phone call that was answered in the Phillipines, with background sounds that included chickens and children, I spent an hour trying to educate her in policy. I would argue, say policy, she would put me on hold, obviously go and read, come back and off we went again. I eventually got what I needed, but it was hard.
May you end up with a enlightened CSR!
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Hi @Debthecat, @lawre, and @Vanmep. I am walking down this sad path of trying to understand how Airbnb processes HST if you want to remit it yourself-we have a lot of input tax credits we want to get back (we registered 5 years ago) and now have the STR income. Deb, I can assure you that conversations with Airbnb are not recorded for training purposes. I have talked with three different people and it is brutal. They are telling me the $32.80 occupancy taxes, for instance, on the earning report’s last booking is the HST on a $1630 booking. They finally did the math and agreed with me. Now I’m being escalated. Are any of you self remitting HST and if so, how did you set up Airbnb without just jacking rates up 5-15%? Thanks in advance.
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So my issue was escalated to someone else further up the chain. Turns out if you turn on Professional Tools, then go to your Listing Editor, then Taxes, then Add a Tax at the bottom of the page on the right, then choose the selections, you will have added HST to your listing and Airbnb says in this area of their site that they will send you the taxes they collect. That took 4 calls/tickets and 2 escalations. It should not have been that hard.
Hey, @SummersideDavid , glad you got some help. The original posts here were made in 2022, and I have since got out of hosting (thanks to a flood, but, still, all good). I’m no help at all with current stuff.
Best of luck with it all, and congrats for your perseverance with Customer Service!