Tax, did Airbnb make a deal with the Revenue Agency?
The terms of the 576 million euro agreement between Airbnb and the Revenue Agency. The comment of the accountant and analyst Liturri. Consumer criticism. The company's version
Airbnb, the US platform that publishes short-term rental ads, reached an agreement on Wednesday with the Revenue Agency on the withholding tax on the income of non-professional hosts (i.e. the people who publish rental ads on the platform) deriving from short-term rentals for the fiscal years 2017 to 2021. The payment amounts to €576 million in total.
Specifically, the sum is divided between approximately 353 million euros for withholdings due and not paid, 174 million in administrative sanctions for violations committed, and 49 million in interest. Airbnb has made it known that it will not seek to recover withholding taxes from hosts for the period in question.
GIUSEPPE LITURRI'S COMMENT
Accountant and analyst Giuseppe Liturri comments with Startmag: “Regarding the alleged (until yesterday) tax evasion by Airbnb, a well-known online platform for short-term rentals, we read of the agreement reached with the Revenue Agency for the payment of 576 million, between tax, penalties and interest. We didn't believe it would come true as quickly as we predicted just 35 days ago, when we commented on the preventive seizure of 779 million from Airbnb by the Milan Prosecutor's Office. Our assessment supported the reasons of the Italian tax authorities, but not only that. In fact, we highlighted that Airbnb had tried to make a mockery of our right, as if it had not existed, using the European Treaties as a shield. Everything melted like snow in the sun, as expected. In the Dublin office they will have done the math and assessed that a 203 million discount and paying "only" 576 was still a good deal, considering the dubious solidity of their defensive theses. And, to complete the capitulation and given that the years 2022 and 2023 are also under observation, they used very relaxing tones. The arrogance and self-assurance with which they opposed the Italian tax authorities with their appeals are now a pale memory. Pay and smile."
CRITICISM OF THE TENANTS UNION
“Santa Claus is coming to Airbnb. A gift package worth over 200 million euros arrives from the Revenue Agency", according to Silvia Paoluzzi, national secretary of the Tenants Union, who adds: "Airbnb has reached an agreement with the Revenue Agency regarding tax evasion from 2017 to 2021 of as much as 779 million euros for non-payment of the flat rate tax, i.e. the 21% deduction also foreseen for short-term rentals", continues Paoluzzi. “The agreement provides for the payment of only 576 million and despite the evasion concerns the years from 2017 to 2021. Furthermore, according to press reports, we learn that the short-term rental platform will pay the tax starting from 2024. It means that we have forgiven it another 300 million euros for the years 2021 and 2023?”
According to the Tenants Union, this is “a great deal in Italy for the short-term rental platform. It's a shame that the same attention and magnanimity is not given to the many people in difficulty. We wonder why the country's tax authorities lower their heads in the face of a great tax evader giving away hundreds of millions of euros, while they have no mercy when they lower their ax towards individual citizens who are defenseless in the face of the economic crisis that our country is experiencing. Two weights and two measures which seem to us to be a real injustice."
“At this point”, concludes Paoluzzi, “we ask that the 576 million collected be allocated to people who find themselves in difficulty. We could have those resources that it was impossible to find in the budget law to be allocated to the Municipalities to purchase houses or recover them to guarantee the passage from home to home for evicted people or to assign them to families in the ranking, concrete housing policies".
THE AIRBNB VERSION
In a statement , Airbnb said the agreement with the Revenue Agency will allow it to "focus on continuing our collaboration with the Italian authorities on taxes, rules for short-term rentals and sustainable tourism, for the benefit of hosts and of guests.
“There are thousands of hosts in Italy. Over three-quarters of them,” the platform states, “only have one ad; the typical host earned just over €3,500 last year.1 Nearly two-thirds (59%) said the income they earn from hosting helps them make ends meet. 15% say they work in healthcare, education or public administration. The majority of hosts on Airbnb in Italy are ordinary people who rely on the platform to supplement their family income."
Finally, Airbnb recalls that in October 2023 the Italian government presented the Budget Law for 2024 which, in its current version, clarifies how platforms should withhold income taxes from non-professional hosts in Italy in the future: “We have welcomed this regulatory proposal and we are preparing to comply with it, with the introduction of a mechanism for withholding and remitting income taxes of relevant hosts to the Revenue Agency", the group comments.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/airbnb-agenzia-entrate-affare/ on Thu, 14 Dec 2023 15:21:21 +0000.