Airbnb: taxes?

riclad

riclad wrote: »

You are allowed to work part time while on welfare ,
i doubt if theres many people on welfare providing rooms on air bb .
How many people on welfare have 1 or 2 spare rooms,
maybe people over 60.
Pensioners, most people over 60 don,t use the web or even have a smartphone.
maybe people presumed it was like rent a room,
tax free up to 12k .
this maybe could be challenged in court .

That is the rock they will perish on. NEVER presume. Make sure of facts before starting any venture.

Pensioners and people over 60 are well capable of using Internet and smartphones! We don't just stop on reaching a certain age!

riclad

Was there any info advice on air bb website , re tax compliance, this income may be taxable.before revenue made this announcement .

i,m saying theres a lot of people over 60 who dont use the internet ,or cant be bothered using smartphone,s etc

All rental income must be declared , whether its under 12k or not. all rent a room income must be declared even if its only 3k .

i,m sure theres 1000s of people over 60 who use smartphones ,broadband etc
the no of people on welfare who are air and b hosts is quite small in my opinion.
is there a law that says everyone has to use a smartphone. can i get one for free from the welfare office.?

i know some people on high income who dont use the web, they cant be bothered .they us basic mobile phones , i,m not saying people over 60 are thick.

i,m 50 plus i have a smartphone and 2 pcs and 2 laptops. is there 1000s of air bb hosts on welfare, i doubt it .
i think you can earn around 130 approx and still claim a full welfare payment .
probably depends on how much rent you pay ,etc

theres people over 60 programming in c + ,building websites etc. Your brain does not switch off when you reach a certain age .

The regulations for rent a room and taxes etc were written before air bb was invented, before apps ,app stores were on the web.

Revenue are saying if you rent a room for a short time ,a few days or a week,
you,ll have to pay tax on income under 12k ,ie air bb is not covered by rent a room scheme.

Thats my opinion ,im not a tax expert or a lawyer.

riclad

riclad wrote: »

Was there any info advice on air bb website , re tax compliance ,.

The first line of their terms and conditions, while aimed at American hosts is valid for hosts anywhere
"HOSTS SHOULD UNDERSTAND HOW THE LAWS WORK IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CITIES." https://www.airbnb.ie/terms

sunnysoutheast

riclad wrote: »

....

i,m saying theres a lot of people over 60 who dont use the internet ,or cant be bothered using smartphone,s etc

...

In which case, how do they rent their rooms on AirB&B in the first place?

riclad

I,m saying alot of 60 year olds may not use the internet ,
may not have broadband installed .
SO They DO not rent rooms on air and b.
So i dont think theres 100,s of pensioners on welfare ,
renting out rooms on air and b .
I think you,d need a modern smartphone to be a host on air and b .
to recieve emails ,bookings etc
Even if there is , you get a tax form fill it in ,I recieved x amount of rental income in 2014 .
if you wish to be tax compliant .
Then in a few weeks they,ll send you letter , you owe x amount tax.
You can be fined for not sending in a tax form re rental income,
even you the tax you owe is only 200 euro .

JuliusCaesar

riclad wrote: »

Pensioners, most people over 60 don,t use the web or even have a smartphone.

Please don't patronise us older people. There are so many of us here that we have our own forum. My 88 year old mother loves her iPad (looks furtively around in case she's here).

riclad wrote: »

maybe people presumed it was like rent a room,
tax free up to 12k .
this maybe could be challenged in court .

People can presume what they like but ignorance is no defence in the law. Everyone knows that you should pay tax on income. There's a rent-a-room scheme now, but who knows how long it will last?

Coat22

I had to laugh at some of the characters on the news last night whinging about having to pay tax:

"I can't afford to pay tax" was the common gripe.

Well unless the tax on what they're earning is more than 100% then they can absolutely afford out of the income they are earning from AirBNB.

People in this country (typically the 38% who don't pay tax) need to understand theres a huge difference between "I can't afford to" and "I don't want to"

zulutango

As an AirBNB host I think it's perfectly reasonable that the income is taxable. I don't earn much through it, but every cent of what I take in is spent on maintaining and renovating the property.

In this case, the money spent on maintenance and renovations far exceeds the revenue I've earned through being a host. So, I'm thinking there's no tax due, right? I've kept receipts for every expense relating to the maintenance and renovation.

filbert the fox

zulutango wrote: »

As an AirBNB host I think it's perfectly reasonable that the income is taxable. I don't earn much through it, but every cent of what I take in is spent on maintaining and renovating the property.

In this case, the money spent on maintenance and renovations far exceeds the revenue I've earned through being a host. So, I'm thinking there's no tax due, right? I've kept receipts for every expense relating to the maintenance and renovation.

Good luck with that.

If it's anything like the current tax situation on landlords you can forget about thinking nothing is owed.
Take a look at this typical example:

In: Monthly Rent €650 (€7800p.a.)


Out: Mortgage €640 (€7680)
+ insurance
+Property tax
+ Maintenance
+ PRTB
registration etc €1650

So on the face of it the landlord is down €1530 and appears to have made a loss based on your logic.

WRONG. Revenue treat the rent as unearned income and you pay tax at your marginal rate on the whole lot less expenses which include 3/4 of the interest you pay on your mortgage.

Sorry about that chief as a smart man once said....:mad:

Coat22

<mod snip>

You make a few quid you pay tax on it - that's how it works. Tax isn't only for those on 100k+ you know (although if the shinners had their way....)

Mrs OBumble

zulutango wrote: »

In this case, the money spent on maintenance and renovations far exceeds the revenue I've earned through being a host. So, I'm thinking there's no tax due, right? I've kept receipts for every expense relating to the maintenance and renovation.

Speak to your accountant about how the renovations are handled: they may need to be depreciated over several years.

But be aware that you can only claim renovations that are directly related to your operation as a BnB (no matter whether the bookings were taken from AirBnB or some other way). Eg Putting in a new door to keep guests from wandering into your private sitting room or putting an en-suite into a room used purely for guests probably would count. But putting in a larger window so there's a nicer view from the sitting room that you share with your guests probably wouldn't.

If it were me, I'd be looking for some non AirBnB bookings as well. Very risky strategy to be dependent only on one source of customers.

zulutango

Deleted User wrote: »

Are these B n B's registered with Failte Ireland or are they regulated by anyone?

It's effectively self-regulating and is almost certainly a superior system to that of Fáilte Ireland or any other body.

zulutango

zulutango wrote: »

It's effectively self-regulating and is almost certainly a superior system to that of Fáilte Ireland or any other body.

Are you serious? Have you looked at their website?

zulutango

Deleted User wrote: »

Are you serious? Have you looked at their website?

I've used it lots and I've stayed in plenty of traditional B&B's. I'm fairly certain that the AirBNB system is superior.

Why do you think it's not?

zulutango

zulutango wrote: »

I've used it lots and I've stayed in plenty of traditional B&B's. I'm fairly certain that the AirBNB system is superior.

Why do you think it's not?

Had a look at a few and thought they looked like student accommodation. One had the owners clothes still in the wardrobe!

zulutango

Deleted User wrote: »

Had a look at a few and thought they looked like student accommodation. One had the owners clothes still in the wardrobe!

The fact that you can see that before you book kind of proves my point, doesn't it?

With AirBNB I can see exactly what the place is like, I can read the reviews, etc, and I can choose accordingly. With regular B&B's I can't really do that.

JuliusCaesar

filbert the fox wrote: »

Take a look at this typical example:

In: Monthly Rent €650 (€7800p.a.)


Out: Mortgage €640 (€7680)
+ insurance
+Property tax
+ Maintenance
+ PRTB
registration etc €1650

So on the face of it the landlord is down €1530 and appears to have made a loss based on your logic.

If I were a taxman (I'm not), I'd look at that and ask:
Do you live in the property? If yes, you can forget about claiming the mortgage.
Does the maintainence benefit you yourself?

filbert the fox

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

If I were a taxman (I'm not), I'd look at that and ask:
Do you live in the property? If yes, you can forget about claiming the mortgage.
Does the maintainence benefit you yourself?

JC please read my post again.....

Landlords .......not rentaroom

athtrasna

filbert the fox wrote: »

JC please read my post again.....

Landlords .......not rentaroom

And this thread is about Air BnB and the tax situation that applies to hosts. Thanks.

mickdw

athtrasna wrote: »

And this thread is about Air BnB and the tax situation that applies to hosts. Thanks.

Yes but the person who believes they owe nothing because they use bnb earnings to maintain the property might be in for a shock.

riclad

MY friend is a landlord ,lives in the house .
pays very little tax on rental income .
Submits tax return ,has 2 tenants , on the rent a room scheme .
You can still claim various expenses ,
re maintenance ,loan interest ,etc if you are renting out a room through air bnb ,
but you don,t get the 12k rent a room tax credit if you are an air bnb
landlord .
ie You will be treated as if you are running a bed and breakfast .
I think they put the info on the revenue.ie website ,
advice to air bnb hosts landlords ,
if You wish to fill in a self assessment tax form re rental income from air bnb , i think it has to be filled in ,sent in before november the 30 th 2015.
As is the case for any landlord .
Look on the revenue.ie website for more detailed info.
This form will be in respect of 2014 tax year rental income .
I help my friend fill in the form every year.
takes maybe 20 minutes to do it.
From what i heard air bnb is cheaper , and more flexible than a bnb ,
especially for someone with 2 or 3 kids .

Mrs OBumble

riclad wrote: »

i think it has to be filled in ,sent in before november the 30 th 2015.

I'm pretty sure that it has to be received by 31 October, not November.

And if you leave it that late, you have to do some calculations yourself, whereas if you make sure it's received by 31 August the nice folks at Revenue do the calcs for you.

They are slowly working to move everyone to on-line systems, but there are still some people who are allowed to do paper returns. I would imagine that many BnB hosts - no matter how they take bookings - would fall into the same category.

Grolschevik

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that it has to be received by 31 October, not November.

.

It has usually been around 15 November for income tax returns filed electronically. Though it changes, I believe.

youngrun

Hi Am I right in thinking I have to pay 9% VAT on Airbnb lettings if I am over the VAT threshold?? http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/rates/decision-detail-03550.jsp

Grolschevik

Grolschevik wrote: »

It has usually been around 15 November for income tax returns filed electronically. Though it changes, I believe.

It's the end of this month. http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/airbnb-hosts-warned-on-need-to-file-tax-returns-31592480.html

markpb

Deleted User wrote: »

It's the end of this month. http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/airbnb-hosts-warned-on-need-to-file-tax-returns-31592480.html

It's not necessarily the end of this month, it's exactly like Grolschevik said:

He said the deadline for filing a tax return for anyone who rented out their property in this way in 2014 is October 31. Those who file online have until November 12.

pasquale83

Hello Folks,

I come back on this subject because I have decided to rent two spare rooms in my house.

At the moment one of them is long-term rented and I want to avail of the rent-a-room scheme. The other one I have decide to rent it out using Airbnb, so I will have to pay the marginal tax rate on the rental income.

Is this mixed tax regime correct? Or am I going to loose the rent-a-room scheme privileges renting out one of the rooms through Airbnb?

Thank!

Michael D Not Higgins

pasquale83 wrote: »

Hello Folks,

I come back on this subject because I have decided to rent two spare rooms in my house.

At the moment one of them is long-term rented and I want to avail of the rent-a-room scheme. The other one I have decide to rent it out using Airbnb, so I will have to pay the marginal tax rate on the rental income.

Is this mixed tax regime correct? Or am I going to loose the rent-a-room scheme privileges renting out one of the rooms through Airbnb?

Thank!

It's an all or nothing deal, you either qualify for rent-a-room or you don't and renting via AirBnB means you don't.

Mrs OBumble

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

It's an all or nothing deal, you either qualify for rent-a-room or you don't and renting via AirBnB means you don't.

Have you any link for that? If it's very clear which room is short-term lets and which isn't, and you have good records of the income and expenses associated with each room, then I cannot see why the right tax approach cannot be applied to each letting.

Michael D Not Higgins

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Have you any link for that? If it's very clear which room is short-term lets and which isn't, and you have good records of the income and expenses associated with each room, then I cannot see why the right tax approach cannot be applied to each letting.

You may be right, it's just my reading of it. My response would be what if you rented two rooms that qualify under rent a room, each for 550/month. The total comes to 13200 which is above the tax free limit. Can you use a loophole to claim one is rent a room and the other is taxable?