Osceola, Seminole study Airbnb deals

2 counties might seek pacts to collect more tourist dollars

Two more Central Florida counties may consider deals with home-sharing company Airbnb to collect bed taxes, which could allow them to rake in even more tourist dollars.

After speaking with an official from Airbnb recently, Osceola County Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr. said he wants his county to discuss a bed-tax agreement with the company.

He said he suspects the county is losing tax dollars from home-sharers skirting the mandated 6 percent assessment on hotel and other vacation lodgings.

“We are like the Holy Grail of counties that have tourism that [doesn’t] have a contract with Airbnb,” he said.

Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg confirmed through a spokesman that his office also is in talks with Airbnb on a deal but wouldn’t comment further.

Under agreements with Orange, Polk and 37 other counties around the state, Airbnb includes the bed tax on the overall bill its customers pay. Then, on a monthly basis, it reimburses county governments with the sum of the fees it collects.

The deal could be a boon for Osceola, which trails only Miami-Dade and Broward in total guests staying in Airbnb units.

Overall, Central Florida saw 68 million visitors last year, state officials say, despite a slight dip in hotel occupancy.

When guests book vacations in Osceola County, they’re obligated to pay a 6 percent tax on the total cost of their visit to hotels, houses, campgrounds or other accommodations.

However, when staying in an Airbnb unit in Osceola, the host has the onus to ensure the tax is paid. Hawkins said thousands of listings on the homesharing app may be slipping through the cracks.

He said as many as 46,000 properties — ranging from couch-surfing living rooms to 12-bedroom mansions — are listed on Airbnb in Osceola County, while the Tax Collector’s office only has records of about one fourth of those.

Osceola County Tax Collector Bruce Vickers said the position of the attorney for the Florida Tax Collector’s Association is not to sign the deal because it doesn’t meet the standards required by state law.

“I think it’s important for the board to look at this,” Hawkins said.

Osceola County Tax Collector Bruce Vickers said the county doesn’t yet have a position on the issue, and he’s skeptical of the county’s ability to audit specific taxpayers.

He said the position of the attorney for the Florida Tax Collector’s Association is not to sign the deal because it doesn’t meet the standards required by state law.

Airbnb has been collecting the tax in Orange since a deal was enacted last spring, which has allowed Comptroller’s Office auditors to crack down on listings for similar sites, such as HomeAway, Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond said.

“It’s a lot easier to deal with one taxpayer as opposed to thousands of individual taxpayers,” he said. “It’s easier for the taxpayers to comply with the law because Airbnb takes care of all the details and the paperwork for them.”

He said the deal his predecessor Martha Haynie agreed to last year has led to increased revenue.

In the first six months of 2017, Orange has been paid $700,500 in bed tax dollars through the deal, Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit said.

But Osceola would be in line for even bigger payouts, he said.

“Osceola, in terms of host income, is the biggest where we don’t have a tax agreement,” Breit said.

In the past 12 months, Osceola County has seen about 267,000 guests staying in Airbnb units, with hosts earning an average of $9,200 annually.

Hawkins admits the bed-tax agreements aren’t flawless, but he wants the commission to discuss the issue in an attempt to reach an acceptable deal.

“I think there is a lot of money Osceola County may be losing,” he said.