The legislation to tax incomes from short-term rentals via online platforms like Airbnb has been published in a circular recently issued by the General Secretary for Public Revenues. The legislation imposes tax rates for incomes of natural persons coming from short-term rentals via the online platform Airbnb. A 15% tax will be charged from the first euro, while there are cases where the state will grab half of the Airbnb income with a tax of 45%.
Tax rates for incomes from Airbnb:
15% for annual incomes up to 12,000 euros
35% for annual income 12,001-35,000 euros
45% for annual income over 35,0001 euros
In case more services are offered they will be taxed as income from entrepreneurship.
22% tax for income up to 20,000 euros
29% tax for income 20,001 – 30,000 euros
37% tax for income 30,001-40,000 euros
45% tax for income over 40,001 euros
“The legislation taxes the Airbnb income according to the taxation scale for furnished real estate rentals offering no other service except the supply of bed clothes,” daily Eleftheros Typos notes.
The new tax rates will be imposed as of 1.1.2018.
The Airbnb income earned in 2017 by legal entities will be taxed as income from entrepreneurship with 29%.
The law to tax and regulate the Airbnb-style market passed through the Greek parliament in December 2016. But it was not implemented in time.
The law called also for the creation of a registry where property owners renting out their homes as tourist accommodation would be required to sign up.
The law limits the number (four) of homes that can be rented out per owner; requires that the accommodation facility must be larger than 9 m2 with natural lighting, ventilation and heating, and must be furnished and rented out without the provision of any service except for bed linen.
Homes can be leased out for a total of 90 days in urban and popular tourist areas and for 50 days in smaller destinations.
The Greek Finance Ministry aims to raise some 48 million euros in 2018 from the Airbnb revenues.
More and more cash-strapped Greeks joined the platform and lease to tourists in an effort to improve their income and make ends meet. Some are leasing their renovated parents’ home, some an empty property, and some just a room in their own home. They prefer short-term to long-term tenants
According to estimates, more than 8,000 properties in Attica alone are being leased out to tourists.
The provisions and estimations for tax revenues from Airbnb rentals are reportedly included in the deal Greece signed with creditors in May 2 2017.
Greece is among the first countries to regulate short-term home rentals.
As I have been asked by several foreign property owners leasing via Airbnb where they can register, I was told that the Tourism Ministry (e-mail: mailboxATmintour.gr) is in charge for such questions.
For more information on tax issues always ask your accountant.
PS I wouldn’t know what are “the other services” a property owner leasing via Airbnb offers. Marmelade and Butter in the fridge and a coffee machine on the kitchen counter?
Yes this is a good law, but i know some airbnb owners who rent out their houses and get paid in their foreign bank accounts, thus they do not declare 1 euro to the Greek state.
Tsipras and Schaeuble are determined to tax Greeks to the point of destroying the economy. Or encouraging everyone to emigrate.
It’s a disgusting piece of legislation which is designed to do only one thing which is increase the stranglehold of foreign tourism companies and hotel owners on the Greek tourism industry and protect revenues for foreign tourism companies.
And at the same time curb private enterprise which is something that Greece desperately needs.
It would not be difficult to guess which one of the ”international lenders” insisted on this clause, and I personally hope that it falls flat on its face and produces zero income for the government. As it is in certain circumstances the property owner can end up paying more in tax and commissions (to Airbnb) than they get in rental income