Airbnb Ireland has finalized a settlement with the Italian Revenue Agency on the matter of withholding Host income taxes. The settlement agreement covers Host withholdings during the 2017 – 2021 period, for an aggregate payment of €576 million euros. We are not seeking to recover any of this sum from our Hosts. We are continuing our constructive engagement with the Italian authorities for 2022 and 2023.
Italy is an important market for Airbnb. This mutual agreement means we can focus on continuing our collaboration with Italian authorities on taxes, short-term rental rules and sustainable tourism for the benefit of our community.
Italy is home to thousands of Hosts on Airbnb. More than three-quarters share just one listing and the typical Host earned just over €3,500 last year.1 Nearly two-thirds (59%) say the income from hosting helps them to make ends meet, and 15% of Hosts say they work in either healthcare, education or public administration roles.2
The vast majority of Hosts on Airbnb in Italy are ordinary families that are using the platform for supplemental income. We hope the agreement with the Italian Revenue Agency and recent legislative changes in Italy will provide these families with certainty about the rules around hosting for years to come.
Looking ahead
In October 2023, the Italian Government shared the 2024 Budget Law, which, in its current form, clarifies how platforms such as Airbnb should withhold income taxes for non-professional Hosts in Italy moving forward. We welcome the clarity offered by this planned update to Italian law and are preparing to comply by introducing new tools for applicable Hosts to have their taxes withheld automatically by Airbnb, and paid to the Italian Revenue Agency on their behalf directly.
Airbnb is also preparing to comply with DAC 7, an EU-wide tax reporting framework for digital platforms. These rules are designed to ensure that governments receive the taxes they are due, while supporting a more consistent, standardized and international approach to information sharing. We have already been notifying Italian Hosts about how the changes may impact their activity on Airbnb and will continue to request DAC 7 information from them before the data is shared with Irish Revenue in January 2024 (due to where Airbnb Ireland is based), and subsequently on to the Italian Revenue Agency.
Finally, Airbnb welcomes the progress of national short-term rental rules in Italy, including the Italian national registration system and EU wide data sharing framework. These improvements will make it easier for historic centers such as Venice and Florence to see who is hosting and how often, and to develop proportionate policy solutions in response. Airbnb is committed to working with Italian authorities to make the rules a success.
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