Paris happens to be the most popular city on Airbnb’s home sharing platform and if you’ve been meaning to rent a place in the capital of France, bear in mind that soon you will have to pay tourist tax. Airbnb confirmed today that it’s going to start collecting tourist tax from users who rent places in Paris, tax collection starts from October 1st, 2015. Tax collection isn’t limited to Paris, Airbnb will gradually expand the collection to other cities in France where the service is available.
France made some changes to its short term home sharing laws with the Bill ALUR last year, it has simplified the process and thus hosts no longer have to collect and remit the tourist tax on their own.
Airbnb can now do that on their behalf, the company says that it has some 50,000 listings for Paris and users booking a stay in the city will pay an additional €0.83 per person per night charge for “meublés touristiques non classés.”
The company has been adapting its service to conform with local tax rules, it already adheres to similar tax collection agreements in cities like San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago and even Amsterdam.
“This isn’t a matter of merely flipping a switch and it takes time, but, as you can see, we’re committed to expanding this program,” a spokesman for Airbnb said.
Filed in . Read more about Airbnb.