Plano, Airbnb Reach Agreement That Takes a Hassle From Hosts and a Hotel Tax Directly From Guests

A year and a half ago, Plano's Corey Reinaker listed his spare front bedroom on Airbnb to make some extra money. Since then, he's hosted 40 to 50 guests at $58 a night."It's not been a big deal," Reinaker said. "If you've got a property, you just take some photos, upload them and 'Poof!'"Reinaker said one of the most tedious parts of hosting short-term guests, however, is the paperwork associated with Plano's municipal hotel taxes. The city levies a 7 percent occupancy tax for short-term rentals like those on Airbnb, VRBO and other vacation rental sites, and filing those forms involves monthly bookkeeping that Reinaker has had to do by hand.Now, in a deal announced Thursday, the city will collect taxes directly from Airbnb, rather than from individual property owners. The agreement should mean less work for hosts and better tax collection for the city, which previously had no way to track down rentals that weren't paying the municipal tax."We believe this partnership will unlock significant new revenue for Plano moving forward, as it has for the state," Laura Spanjian, Airbnb's senior policy director, said in a prepared statement. "In addition to this tax agreement, we are committed to using our platform to help bring family-friendly tourism and economic development to Plano and the entire DFW region."Plano's agreement is Airbnb's first such municipal agreement in the state. In 2017, the company reached a similar agreement with the Texas comptroller's office to collect the state's 6 percent hotel tax, but hosts were still required to file local taxes separately.   Continue reading...