So, I just found out recently that a law was passed in our New Jersey town across from New York City, about a year ago that completely forbids Airbnb. It doesn’t matter if you live on the property or not. It is ALL forbidden.
Then, this summer the New Jersey state government passed a new law - TAXING AIRBNB RENTALS. So, the city says it’s illegal and the state says it’s legal and they’re going to tax it. (So which is it)?
First thing is - Airbnb is NOT going to collect the occupancy taxes for all New Jersey hosts. (Just those in Jersey City).
So, in order to pay the taxes, we have to register with the state as a BNB and to register with the state, our town has to give permission. So, if the town doesn’t give permission, you can’t register with the state. And if you can’t register with the state - you can’t pay the tax!
Which means, surely, several years from now, some governmental agency will come knocking on the door to inform us we owe $20,000 in taxes plus $40,000 in penalties! You know whatever they do - they’ll make it some impossible amount to pay.
So, even if we collect the taxes now and save them for a time in which we would be allowed to pay them - they’ll surely add all kinds of penalties and fees that we wouldn’t have been able to collect from our guests (obviously).
Which means, we pretty much have to stop hosting.
Oh and also… since Airbnb refuses to collect the taxes for every host in this state - most hosts aren’t charging the taxes. They make no mention of them on their pages. Which means if we tell guests they have to pay an additional almost 12% for taxes, they’ll just go somewhere else.
Has anybody else faced problems like this?