Airbnb/Revenue letter

sarah.t.b

Hello,

I got a letter from Revenue saying that I owe them tax because of Airbnb but I have never used Airbnb. The letter said Airbnb gave them my information but I don't know how they would have my name or address or anything since I've never ever used it to rent out my house or to rent somewhere else. I'm really worried I'm going to get audited over this. Has anyone else had the same problem or any advice about what I should do?

TheBully

sarah.t.b wrote: »

Hello,

I got a letter from Revenue saying that I owe them tax because of Airbnb but I have never used Airbnb. The letter said Airbnb gave them my information but I don't know how they would have my name or address or anything since I've never ever used it to rent out my house or to rent somewhere else. I'm really worried I'm going to get audited over this. Has anyone else had the same problem or any advice about what I should do?

Maybe contact revenue might be a good start??
Sure u have nothing to worry about over an audit surely?

myshirt

Extrey rare that Revenue get this wrong, so pick it up with them immediately to clear up the misunderstanding.

JigglyMcJabs

Make sure you contact them and discuss it, if you don't, they're likely to make an assessment in the absence of information from you.

Did you ever sign up as a host and then not pursue it? Is the notice addressed to you personally?

Revenue are very reasonable if you're up front with them and communicate in a timely manor, if you never hosted you'll be fine, they'll go back to air bnb for clarification and more information.

ArrBee

Whats the data protection angle to AirBnB disclosing your details to Revenue?
Sounds fishy.

listermint

ArrBee wrote: »

Whats the data protection angle to AirBnB disclosing your details to Revenue?
Sounds fishy.

There is no data protection failures here. So that avenue wont work to get out of owing taxes.

Revenue are extremely powerful and taxes are blood hounded down.

SteM

ArrBee wrote: »

Whats the data protection angle to AirBnB disclosing your details to Revenue?
Sounds fishy.

Why would it be fishy?

sarah.t.b

I never used it so I definitely don't owe taxes for Airbnb but I've heard audits are awful so I'm worried about having to go through that. I don't have an account or anything on Airbnb. I don't understand how they got my details in the first place.

sarah.t.b

sarah.t.b wrote: »

I never used it so I definitely don't owe taxes for Airbnb but I've heard audits are awful so I'm worried about having to go through that. I don't have an account or anything on Airbnb. I don't understand how they got my details in the first place.

An audit sounds worse than it is. Just contact Revenue and talk it over with them.

martyoo

As mentioned it's best to contact them asap. They are decent to deal with. Afaik AirBnB passed over a lot of details a while back to Revenue of their hosts and what they were all earning so maybe there was some mistake made.

relax carry on

Contact them to see if a matching error had occurred.

This is the info shared by Airbnb with Revenue.


Reporting Obligations:
Airbnb Ireland is legally required under Sections 888 and 890 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to provide certain information in relation to Irish host earnings annually to the Irish Revenue. Irish host earnings are:

All rental income earned by Irish resident hosts in respect of both Irish and foreign listings; and
All rental income earned by non-Irish resident hosts in respect of Irish listings.
The report is due by September every year and covers earnings for the previous year, i.e., the report due by September 2016 will cover Irish host earnings for the 2015 calendar year.

If you received Irish host earnings during the calendar year, Airbnb is required to provide Irish Revenue with the following information (which we obtain from the details in your Airbnb account):

Your first and last name
Address of your listing(s)
Your address as associated with your payout method
Amounts paid out in the reportable year, including cleaning fees
Date of your first booking during the reportable year, by listing.

https://www.airbnb.ie/help/article/1378/responsible-hosting-in-ireland?ibbe=1

daheff

was the letter sent to your home address in your specific name (no typos or anything)?


Have you ever used AirBnB as a customer (rather than a host)?


Does the letter have any account details (like an Airbnb account) on it? It would be worthwhile sending an official letter to AirBnB requesting what information they have on file about you and where they got it from. However -do not tell them that they have your information incorrectly or they will refuse to provide anything back to you.


Could be useful in showing revenue that they have the wrong person.


It could be that a person with a similar name living nearby got mixed up with you? Or some 'enterprising' person gave your details at sign up to avoid tax

wiggle16

Hi OP! First off, calm down

Call Revenue and just tell them that you did not have income from Airbnb and a mistake has been made. That's literally all you need to do. They would have received the information from Airbnb themselves. It's likely that a previous occupant of your house had Airbnb income, and that the information Airbnb gave to Revenue is simply out of date, or simply that they have matched an Airbnb profile to your address in error.

Don't panic about being audited, that's not going to happen. You cannot be taxed on income you never had.

As for "data protection" and "fishy" comments, calm yourselves down. It's not a data protection issue, and it can be sorted out in 5 mins if the OP just calls Revenue.

wiggle16

martyoo wrote: »

As mentioned it's best to contact them asap. They are decent to deal with. Afaik AirBnB passed over a lot of details a while back to Revenue of their hosts and what they were all earning so maybe there was some mistake made.

^^^^ I guarantee this is exactly what happened.

ArrBee

listermint wrote: »

There is no data protection failures here. So that avenue wont work to get out of owing taxes.

Revenue are extremely powerful and taxes are blood hounded down.

I was wondering "out loud" if there was either an obligation on AirBnB to pass on details to revenue, or an agreement in the T&C of AirBnB that would allow them to disclose your personal data held by them on to the 3rd party, Revenue.

I see from a few posts after mine that there clearly is!

In no way was I suggesting that income earners should be able to avoid paying the taxes due, but I am surprised that Revenue and AirBnB are organised already and have an information sharing system in place. I expected that it should be necessary and needed, but not in place yet.

ArrBee

SteM wrote: »

Why would it be fishy?

In this case it's not fishy as <relax carry on> pointed out. There is disclosure in the AirBnB T&C.

I didn't know that when I asked if there was a data protection angle to this situation.


And BTW, I was completely calm the whole time I. :P

SteM

ArrBee wrote: »

In this case it's not fishy as <relax carry on> pointed out. There is disclosure in the AirBnB T&C.

I didn't know that when I asked if there was a data protection angle to this situation.


And BTW, I was completely calm the whole time I. :P

I never suggested you weren't calm.

sarah.t.b

I've never used Airbnb as a host or a guest and the letter had my name and address. I live in the countryside so it is not likely that they got me confused with a neighbour. I rang Revenue and they said to contact Airbnb but surely revenue should care a bit more that there is false information coming from somewhere here? I've never used Airbnb so I don't have contact details for them either. It's all a bit weird

wiggle16

sarah.t.b wrote: »

I've never used Airbnb as a host or a guest and the letter had my name and address. I live in the countryside so it is not likely that they got me confused with a neighbour. I rang Revenue and they said to contact Airbnb but surely revenue should care a bit more that there is false information coming from somewhere here? I've never used Airbnb so I don't have contact details for them either. It's all a bit weird

Revenue are right: you do need to contact Airbnb, because someone else has given them your details. But that has nothing to do with Revenue. Once you told them you had no Airbnb income then they're no longer interested as there is nothing to tax, and the fact that Airbnb has your information on its records is between you and Airbnb only.

MAJJ

wiggle16 wrote: »

Revenue are right: you do need to contact Airbnb, because someone else has given them your details. But that has nothing to do with Revenue. Once you told them you had no Airbnb income then they're no longer interested as there is nothing to tax, and the fact that Airbnb has your information on its records is between you and Airbnb only.

If Airbnb don't assist, you have many rights under GRDP from access to your data, to correction and potentially deletion

ArrBee

SteM wrote: »

I never suggested you weren't calm.

I know, it was someone else.
Apologies for not making that clear.

TheBully

Any update