Revenue have recently written to over 12,000 taxpayers who are in receipt of income from the letting of short-term accommodation through Airbnb. Airbnb have provided Revenue with details of payments made to customers in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 in respect of the provision of short-term accommodation.
The letters issued by Revenue are reminders to taxpayers to include this income in their tax returns. Revenue have confirmed that they will be carrying out a range of follow up compliance checks to ensure that tax returns are filed on time and completed correctly.
Income received from the letting of short-term accommodation is treated differently for tax purposes to income received from renting a property under a landlord and tenant arrangement. In addition, income from a trade of short-term letting is subject to different tax treatment to income from the provision of accommodation on an occasional basis.
When preparing your income tax return, please be aware of the following points when calculating profits from the occasional letting of short-term accommodation:
- A deduction against profits may only be made in respect of incidental costs directly associated with the service provided to guests. Examples of incidental costs include commission paid to online accommodation booking sites, cleaning fees, the cost of providing breakfast to guests as well as a reasonable apportionment of electricity, gas and heating utilised by guests;
- A deduction against profits is not allowable for annual costs associated with a property such as insurance, TV licence and general maintenance costs;
- Capital allowances on the cost of furniture and fittings for the property are not available against the profits;
- No deduction is allowable against profits in respect of expenditure incurred in advance of a property/room being made available for guest accommodation.
For income earned in 2017, the required date to submit your income tax return on Revenue’s Online Service (ROS) is 14 November 2018.
If you have any queries or concerns relating to the letter issued by Revenue, please contact our Tax Department.