For control purposes, the Hamburg tax office has requested booking data from about 56,000 providers from all over Germany from the international brokerage portal for private holiday accommodation – according to the dpa Airbnb news agency. In total, the turnover is more than one billion euros, according to the authority. The data would now be distributed to the responsible tax authorities in the federal states for verification.
In 2020, Hamburg had already won a Supreme Court decision to release the data as part of a so-called international class request. The evaluation of the sales of 8,000 German providers amounting to $137 million (126 million euros) led to additional tax revenues of four million euros across Germany in 2021 and 2022, it said. For Hamburg alone, the additional claims would have been 706,000 euros for income tax and, if applicable, sales tax, as well as 195,000 euros for culture and tourist taxes.
The stubbornness of the tax authorities in Hamburg had already paid off by then, said finance senator Andreas Dressel (SPD). “By re-requesting data, the detection of untaxed rental income is consistently continued.” For ‘tax unfair’ landlords, the chance of detection has increased considerably.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
