Paying taxes to the origin country but managing the listing in another country

Regulations/Tax Issues
21

The nationality of the host has no bearing whatsoever on the VAT rate used by Airbnb.

JF

22

I am from Serbia but live and work in Thailand where the listing is. Airbnb thinks that it renders its services to me in Serbia so charges the applicable Serbian VAT. Airbnb office which issues invoices I guess in Ireland. We have our own office in Serbia too,

23

It has. I was directly replied by Airbnb as soon as I hold the Serbian passport and their system shows that they will always charge Serbian VAT for my host comission and it does not matter where the listing is.

24

My counter to that, is then why am I charged Spanish VAT rate and not the UK rate (being UK passport holder)?

JF

1 Like
25

I charged with Serbian VAT rate (20%), local VAT rate in Thailand is only 7%.

26

Airbnb thinks you still live in Serbia and makes you pay 20% vat, you think you’re a resident of Thailand and should only pay 7% vat. That’s a difference of 13% on a 3% host fee.
If my maths are right, I would leave it as it is.
Its not worth all the hassle for 0.039% of your turnover, all its costing you is $39 for every $10,000 you make.

Trying to think of different scenarios where it would get cocked up.
Do you still have a Serbian bank account connected to your payout method and in which currency do you get payouts.

Incidentally, I think you are right and should only pay 7% vat while living in Thailand as a resident and submitting your tax return to the Thai tax man.

2 Likes
27

yes you are right in math. But Airbnb in Thailand doesn’t charge VAT on a host fee. Probably there is no any special agreement between local tax guys and Airbnb, therefore I get less by 0.6% than other local hosts here. The money goes to my Payoneer card in USD or to my US bank account so they know I am Serbian because I provided my Serbian passport in early days when I registered my account. They are too big to make any special policy for myself and I guess there are not many hosts which do the same (rent properties outside of their origin country).

28

Get over yourself, there are lots of us. The difference appears to be that we sort our shit out, properly, as opposed to how you’ve done it.

JF

2 Likes
29

Hey it’s been a while since the last post but did anyone get a solution for this?

I manage properties in the uk and Dubai and I’m happy (as can be) to pay the 20% vat on the Uk stays/bookings but they are charging me 20% vat on Dubai stays/bookings where the local vat rate is 5%

30

Sounds like you’ve got a UK address registered with Airbnb and they’re using the default figure.

Contact CS and see if they’ll amend it, although to get the local VAT rate they may require the property to be registered via a local address.

JF

1 Like
33

Did you contact the CS about it ?

This is what their website state :

VAT, Japanese Consumption Tax (JCT), and Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates are usually calculated according to the local rate of the customer’s country of residence or the place of supply.

I believe your residence is UK. Airbnb should be pushed to take VAT according to place of supply instead of systematically following host’s country of residence.