HB 2383 (Mundon King) and SB 1402 (Surovell), which reflect a compromise between Airbnb and Commissioners of the Revenue, have passed their respective originating chambers. Airbnb has agreed to comply with current law requiring monthly reporting of property addresses and gross receipts for all accommodations facilitated by in each locality. This information will allow transient occupancy tax collections to be properly attributed and audited, a long-sought goal of local tax administrators. Other provisions in the bills stipulate that this information may only be used for tax collection purposes and may not be shared with other departments or officials within the locality, and clarify that an accommodations provider is not required to transmit a transient occupancy tax return to the local assessing officer if all accommodations sales are handled by an accommodations intermediary (a company like Airbnb). Current law requires the intermediary to collect and remit the transient occupancy tax for sales that it facilitates.
HB 1557 (Ware) and SB 1330 (Marsden) would have required the Department of Taxation to establish a statewide short-term rental registry and required all accommodations providers and accommodations intermediaries to register with the Department and provide information on individual properties offered for short-term rental, to include amounts of taxes collected for specific properties. Local Commissioners of the Revenue or other assessing officials would have access to the information on the registry and would be authorized to share certain information with local zoning officials. The Commissioner of the Revenue would be required to notify an accommodations intermediary upon discovering that a short-term rental on its platform was not lawful, and the intermediary would be required to remove the non-compliant listing from its platform within seven days. VACo supports this legislation and spoke in favor when the bills were heard, but neither bill emerged from committee.
VACo Contact: Katie Boyle