Apartments and Holiday HomesShort rentals
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After a legal process that began in 2017, the European Court of Justice rejects Airbnb's theses and sanctions the obligation for the portal to collect the dry coupon. It has not yet been clarified whether Airbnb will have to pay off the arrears and the related penalties from 2017. Federalberghi: "important ruling, which promotes transparency and fights tax evasion".
Thursday 22 December 2022 8 minutes reading time
Airbnb must collect and pay the flat rate coupon on short-term rentals to the Italian state. It is the heart of the sentence pronounced on 22 December in Luxembourg by the Court of Justice of the European Union at the conclusion of a legal case that began in 2017.
Bernabò Bocca, president of Federalberghi, states that "the Federation intervened in the proceedings alongside the Revenue Agency to promote market transparency, in the interest of all operators, because tax evasion and unfair competition damage both traditional tourist businesses and those who correctly manage the new forms of hospitality. The sentence marks an important point, but there is still some progress to be made. The next steps are up to the Council of State, which will have to pronounce itself by acknowledging the European sentence, to then allow the Revenue Agency to recover the unpaid taxes during six years of blatant non-compliance, applying the relative sanctions".
"At the same time - concludes Bocca - we are asking the Government and Parliament to bring order to the jungle of apartments for tourist use, which hide behind the fig leaf of the lease, but in reality operate to all intents and purposes as accommodation facilities and therefore must be subject to the same basic rules provided for hotels, landlords and bed and breakfasts".
SOME DATA ON AIRBNB AND SHORT-TERM RENTALS
(source: Incipit consulting and Centro Studi Federalberghi elaborations on Inside Airbnb data)
As of August 2022, there were 440,305 listings for Italian accommodation published on Airbnb. The data analysis confirms, once again, the four big "lies" of the so-called sharing economy:
it is not true that the experience is shared with the owner. More than three quarters of the ads (81% refer to the rental of entire apartments, in which no one lives.
it is not true that these are supplementary forms of income. They are economic activities in all respects. Almost two thirds of the ads (64.9%) are published by people who manage more than one accommodation, with borderline cases of people who manage more than 6,000.
it is not true that these are occasional activities. More than half of the announcements (57.8%) refer to housing available for more than six months of the year.
it is not true that short-term leases tend to develop where there is a shortage of supply. The lodgings are concentrated above all in the big cities and in the main tourist resorts where there is a greater presence of official establishments.
The municipalities with the most properties on Airbnb
The Municipality with the most accommodations available on Airbnb is Rome, with 23,899 listings, followed by Milan (18,416), Florence (10,576), Venice (7,677), Naples (7,313) and Palermo (5,561).
The distribution of rental apartments by region
The Region with the most accommodations available on Airbnb is Tuscany, with 59,058 listings, followed by Sicily (56,099), Lombardy (44,460) and Puglia (41,573).
The details of the sentence and the legal precedents.
Airbnb's requests were rejected for the first time by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, with a sentence dated February 18, 2019.
As part of the same proceeding, further requests by Airbnb were rejected by the Lazio TAR on September 25, 2017 and on October 18, 2017, by the Council of State on June 8, 2018, by the Lazio TAR on July 9, 2018 and on February 18 2019, by the European Court of Justice on 30 June 2020.
In July 2018, the Administrative Court also sentenced the portal to pay the costs, in favor of Federalberghi and the Revenue Agency.
Evaded taxes and penalties
According to what was declared by Airbnb itself in court, the sums to be paid annually in Italy, compared to the revenues of 2016, would have been equal to around 130 million euros.
Considering that in the meantime the number of ads published on the portal has grown dramatically, it can be estimated that in the six years of (non) application of the tax, Airbnb has collected around 7.5 billion euros and has failed to withhold and pay to the taxman Italian over 1.5 billion euros.
Without forgetting that the Revenue Agency has clarified that intermediaries are subject to sanctions for omitted or incomplete deductions to be made starting from 12 September 2017.
The applicable sanctions can reach 140% of the withholding taxes not carried out, of which 20% for not having carried out the withholding tax and 120% for failure to submit the withholding tax return.
The financial statements of Airbnb Italy srl
The latest published financial statements of Airbnb Italy srl show taxes paid in Italy for the year 2021 for around one million euros. In the same year, the sums collected by the Airbnb group as commissions on rentals collected in our country can be estimated at over 180 million euros. In other words, the group pays the Italian State a rate equal to 0.5% of revenues made in Italy ...
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