Vienna. The US housing broker Airbnb, which is about to go public, will have to forward the sales data of its apartment rental companies to the tax authorities in Austria for the first time from 2021. Finance can then check whether the landlords have correctly taxed their income. Anyone who has not done this faces penalties. He must pay the tax in any case.
“At the end of the 2020 calendar year, these platforms will have to send customers' sales data to the tax authorities for the first time,” said the Ministry of Finance on Thursday. So it is already about the sales made in 2020, which of course should not have been as high as in the years before due to the corona crisis. By how much the rental income has decreased, Airbnb did not say when asked. During the first lockdown in March, there was talk of a drop of over 70 percent.
Airbnb always in sight
Airbnb, which is repeatedly at odds with individual cities and federal states because of taxes and local taxes, welcomes the Austria-wide regulation. “Airbnb is committed to clear, contemporary home-sharing rules throughout Austria and we welcome the federal government's proposal for a national, digital and free registration model, because different rules at city or state level can be misleading and unsettling for citizens”, emphasized the company in a written statement.
The exchange with the City of Vienna, with which Airbnb has had conflicts for years, is “constructive”. The aim is to “contribute to fair and proportionate rules that enable the Viennese to rent out their homes and at the same time guarantee effective protection of living space”. Therefore, the city has been offered to take down municipal apartments offered for rent on the platform. An agreement for the automated collection of local taxes – another point of contention – “Airbnb would like to continue to implement together with the city”, as the company emphasized. “We consider all open points to be solvable.”
In Salzburg, the obligation to register landlords on online platforms came into force in September, in Tyrol it has been in effect since the beginning of the year.
At Airbnb, all guests and landlords must agree to and follow the corona security guidelines, according to Airbnb. “This includes wearing a face mask when checking in, following distance rules and a five-step cleaning protocol.” In the latter, Airbnb recommends only using disinfectants that are registered with the relevant authorities. Dirty laundry should not be shaken “as this can increase the spread of germs”. (APA)
