Airbnb is a popular service that people around the world can use to rent out their homes. Its an easy way to make money if you’ve got an extra room in your apartment as its basically a no frills service but the company has faced certain regulatory issues particularly in San Francisco and New York. Regulators in San Francisco have been pushing to get Airbnb to pay hotel taxes on behalf of its hosts, after months of negotiations on the finer details, Airbnb has finally agreed to start collection 14% hotel tax in San Francisco.
Conventional hotels in the city charge 14 percent tax to guests as laid down in the law and city regulators were of the view that San Francisco is losing out on this tax revenue as visitors who opt for Airbnb don’t pay the tax.
Starting October 1st Airbnb is going to charge 14 percent tax from people who rent an available listing in the city. This will be mentioned under “Transient Occupancy Tax” on their receipt. Guests who stay for less than 30 days at a rental listing will have to pay the 14 percent tax which will initially be collected by Airbnb before it’s passed on to the city.
Airbnb already pays such taxes in Portland so San Francisco isn’t really the first city to get its way with the peer-to-peer apartment rental service.
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