Authored By Staff Report
Officials this week announced an agreement that means local residents renting their homes through Airbnb will be charged a 4 percent hotel/motel occupancy tax.
Effective Sept. 1, Airbnb will automatically collect and remit the tax.
Airbnb sent out a news release on the topic.
Here’s what officials said:
Collecting and remitting hotel/motel occupancy taxes can be complicated. The rules were designed for traditional hospitality providers and large hotel corporations with teams of lawyers and accountants. For this reason, Airbnb has partnered with over 370 local governments throughout the U.S. to collect and remit taxes, making the process easy for hosts to pay their fair share while contributing valuable revenue for local governments. Of Airbnb’s 370 U.S. tax partnerships, this now marks the company’s fourth in Tennessee. In 2017, Airbnb announced an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Revenue to collect state and local sales taxes on all bookings throughout the state. Airbnb also has agreements with Memphis and Knoxville to collect their respective city occupancy taxes. “Our hosts want to pay their fair share, and we want to help,” said Laura Spanjian, regional policy director for Airbnb. “Our greater Chattanooga host community provides a tremendous service to the region by allowing more visitors to stay longer and spend money with local businesses. This tax agreement will only enhance the economic impact and deliver a brand-new revenue stream for Hamilton County.” Chattanooga is Airbnb’s third largest market in Tennessee, behind only Nashville and Memphis. About 62,000 Airbnb guests experienced Chattanooga in 2017. Chattanooga took steps to legalize home sharing in 2017, passing a law that allowed short-term rentals in nearly all of the city. Statewide data indicates that Airbnb and its host community appear to be complementing — rather than competing with — the Tennessee hotel industry. A late 2017 report from Marcus & Millichap concludes that Tennessee hotels outside of Nashville are demonstrating strong revenue growth. This suggests that Airbnb is opening up the region to a new slice of prospective tourists, catering to travelers less able to afford hotels, those who desire to stay in neighborhoods or cities that lack hotels, and families who prefer to be together under one roof.
