We had qualified for a senior property tax freeze but when I submitted the renewal application required every 3 years I declared the income received from Airbnb along with our social security income. While this did not put us over the income threshold we were informed that even though the amount was small our property ceased to be primary residence which was a requirement for senior freeze. Also we are required to submit a 1099 from Airbnb regardless.
I fail to see the point of that as we submitted a statement from the Airbnb site showing amount paid for 2015. the Airbnb website states that IRS does not require them to send out 1099âs to people grossing less than $20K, but that does not help people like us who are stupid enough to declare it as income on our tax returns. I have requested a 1099 and am awaiting a response.
At the moment it looks as though we will not qualify for a senior freeze any longer simply because we rented out a spare room for a few nights. Our increase in property taxes will most likely exceed any income we have received from Airbnb, so we will have not only had the extra work for nothing, but will be out additional money spent on guest accommodations, like linen, door locks, coffee, towels, food etc. While we will honor the upcoming reservations we cannot afford to take guests in 2017.
We are not blaming Airbnb, but hope this will save other people a similar surprise.
