€148 million paid to French municipalities from Airbnb stays in 2022

Airbnb collected €148 million in taxes for onward payment to French cities in 2022, a 60% increase from 2021, with Paris, Marseille and Nice being the three highest paying locations.

The amount more than doubled in some regions compared to the previous year due to the return of tourism following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The money is for the tourist tax (tourist tax) that Airbnb and other tourist rentals in France are required to pay if they are based in a municipality that levies this tax. The amount is added to the overnight rate and is paid to the municipality by the owner of the property or the rental management company. The amount is fixed and is between 1 and 5% per night and per person.

  • Paris: received 24.3 million euros
  • Marseilles: 2.8 million euros
  • Nice: 2.4 million euros

The amount paid to Nice has doubled for 2022 compared to 2021. It has almost doubled to Marseille over the same period.

In a statement, Airbnb said France was the second highest earner on the platform, just behind the United States.

The intention is that the municipalities use the tax money to develop their own tourist offers.

He said: “These big cities are benefiting from the return of international travelers and big events, which are bringing people back to their area.”

Most of the revenue went to cities and towns, but almost 30% of the tourist tax collected in 2022 was collected in rural areas with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants. This is roughly the same percentage as in 2021 (29%).

Airbnb said it has collected and remitted “appropriate income from hosts (i.e. those who rent properties through Airbnb) to tax authorities once a year since 2020”, and that since 2021 it has provided local authorities with “detailed data on stays made” via its website in compliance with regulations.

The platform also said it was working on a way to work with “EU member states and tax authorities to automate the collection and payment of tourist tax”.

It comes after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) made it mandatory for short-term tourist accommodation rental platforms to report transaction information to national tax authorities. The CJEU was consulted following a dispute between Belgium and Airbnb Ireland.

Airbnb (and similar platforms like Booking.com) regularly comes under harsh criticism from many popular tourist destinations in France, whose locals accuse it of pushing local property prices beyond the levels affordable and create ghost towns of second homes for rent.

In Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, the owners of many municipalities must declare their rental to their local town hall. They must be registered and have permission to rent the property short term, and can only do so 120 days a year.

These rules apply to cities such as Nice, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Cassis. Paris also has similar rules. An Airbnb host and business in the capital were recently fined €189,000 for renting an apartment without having the correct permit to go beyond the standard limit of 120 days per year.

Some cities have also been working on ways to limit the expansion of Airbnb and similar short-term rental platforms. At the end of last year, a real estate developer said he banned Airbnbs of its properties to encourage year-round lodging instead.

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