GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Kent County and the home-sharing website Airbnb have announced an agreement on collecting taxes.
The county made the announcement Wednesday morning that starting August 1, Airbnb will automatically collect the Kent County Lodging Excise tax for the county. The tax, also known as the hotel/motel tax, is in place for taxable bookings.
The county says the agreement means the process will be seamless and efficient for Airbnb hosts and the county.“We appreciate the cooperation of Airbnb in helping us achieve this agreement,” said Ken Parrish, Kent County Treasurer in press release. “The Voluntary Collection Agreement allows Airbnb hosts to operate without having to try to calculate occupancy taxes. It also simplifies collection and audit processes; we have one solo, corporate taxpayer rather than many individual business operators. This agreement provides transparency and fairness for all of our lodging partners as well.”
Airbnb has partnerships with 370 local governments to collect and remit taxes. The process means Airbnb takes care of calculating and paying the taxes instead of all the individual Airbnb hosts.
The county says this is Airbnb’s third tax agreement in Michigan. They also have partnerships with the Michigan Treasury for state use taxes and for Genesee County.
The county says 22,000 Airbnb guests stayed in Kent County in 2017. Grand Rapids hotels also experience record revenue in 2017.
