Airbnb states they are collecting and remitting occupancy tax in the state of Missouri. This is false. They are collecting state, county and city sales tax, which is about 9%; however, they are not collecting the 6% occupancy tax required by the City of Hannibal. I would like to inform Airbnb or their error so that hosts do not fail to pay required occupancy taxes and get into trouble. I had assumed Airbnb was taking care of everything and thankful that the city collector followed up with me and notified me that I was failing to pay required occupancy tax. I do not know how to contact the appropriate person at Airbnb to remedy this problem. The way the current system works is that I am required to pay 6% occupancy tax that Airbnb pays to me. One issue I have is that 35$ of my payout goes to my cleaner and I am paying occupancy tax on that money. No big deal. I would just like a cleaner accounting method from Airbnb and for them to make accurate statements about their role in collecting occupancy tax. Respectfully & kindly. Paul Krewson
All the numbers for contacting Airbnb are listed at the top of this forum. If you go on Airbnb’s Help Centre and search Contact Us your nearest number will come up. They are also posted in Airbnb’s Community Centre .
We here are not connected to Airbnb officially.
Air’s tax collection is not done “in your name”. It is done as a lump sum payment to each state, county, city; so your tax collector will not have a record of you personally paying that tax. That’s what they do across Florida here, where every city/county has different rates. Bothering your local tax collector with this issue will no doubt just result in you paying double city tax.
Contacting Air about this will undoubtedly never result in them collecting tax in your name. If they say they are collecting for “cities” then they ARE collecting differently for your city than for the next city.
Thank you for the kind replies. The amount of money they are charging my guests for taxes is 9%. This percentage is the same amount as our state, county and city sales tax. If they are collecting the 6% city occupant tax, then the amount of the taxes would be 15%. I will give them a call this week. Thank you.
I spent 20 minutes on phone with Airbnb customer service and they were not helpful. They kept saying that they are paying occupancy tax and I don’t need to worry about it. I kept saying, I have done the math and you are missing 6%, which is the occupancy tax for the City of Hannibal. I asked for this matter to be sent to a person in accounting who has a better understanding of tax codes. A little later, I get this message from Airbnb: “Hi Paul I know it is as a host to know your responsibilities with your taxes. Upon reviewing your account, Airbnb automatically collects the Occupany tax on your listing.”
I called the Hannibal CIty tax collector and confirmed with a second phone call to the director of tourism. Airbnb is not collecting Occupany Tax. They are collecting sales and use for the state, county and city; however, there remains a 6% Occupancy tax that I am obligated to pay to the City of Hannibal. The City did inform me that they have been negotiating with airbnb on this matter, but the City Council still needs to vote on it and the contract has not been executed. I informed the City that Airbnb is misinforming their hosts and telling us not to worry about it and it’s already being taken care of.
I replied to Airbnb and informed them of this information. I told them this is a serious matter and they need to investigate and take corrective action. If they are doing this in Missouri, then they could very well be making the same mistake in other states. I recommend that every host research all the sales and use and occupancy tax obligations and then do the math and see if Airbnb is collecting the correct % in taxes. I am dropping this matter for now. I am doing what I am obligated to do and I have notified everyone. Best wishes and kind regards 