RELEASE: Airbnb announces historic home sharing tax agreement with Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Today, Airbnb, the world’s leading community driven hospitality company, announced a historic tax agreement with the Missouri Department of Revenue that will allow the company to collect and remit state taxes on behalf of its 6,300 Missouri hosts.

With the tax agreement in place, the state will be able to fully capitalize on more people visiting Missouri and staying longer through home sharing. Effective February 1, Airbnb will automatically collect and remit the state sales tax (about 4.2%) as well as a variety of local taxes on all Airbnb bookings in Missouri.

The tax agreement accounts for a broad array of taxes assessed by the State Department of Revenue, including state and many county and municipal taxes:

• Missouri State Sales Tax: 4.225%

• City Sales Tax: 0.25 – 1.375%

• County Sales Tax: 0.25 – 0.5%

• Additional County Sales Tax: 0.125% – 0.5%

• Tourism Tax to Maintain Quality of Water: 0.25%

• Promotional Tourism Tax: 0.5 – 5%

• Local Sales Tax: 1%

Based on the state sales tax alone, if Airbnb bookings to Missouri were to replicate that of the last 12 months, it would mean $1.1 million in revenue to the state.

“Home sharing is introducing a whole new world of travelers to the authenticity of Missouri while offering new economic opportunities for thousands of middle class Missourians,” said Laura Spanjian, Midwest policy director for Airbnb. “We are so proud to have collaborated on this agreement, and we believe this can serve as a model for other states. We are dedicated to finalizing additional agreements to collect and remit taxes with Missouri municipalities.”

While Airbnb has partnered with about 350 of local governments throughout the U.S. to collect and remit taxes — including neighboring states like Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Arkansas — this marks the company’s first tax agreement within Missouri. This agreement with Missouri DOR covers taxes assessed by the state, meaning any cities or counties with their own separately assessed taxes will require their own agreements with Airbnb. Columbia — with the support of Airbnb — is currently moving towards amending its law to allow short-term rentals to be taxed. Additionally, Airbnb has also encouraged Kansas City to consider updating its law so as to allow for the taxation of short-term rentals.

The agreement comes at a time of dynamic home sharing growth within Missouri. Airbnb recently announced that its Missouri host community earned $28.9 million in supplemental income in 2017 while welcoming 289,000 guest arrivals to the state.

Home sharing has impacted a wide spectrum of Missouri’s communities. Airbnb hosts significantly expanded lodging capacity during the eclipse as hotels in cities like St. Louis along the path of totality completely sold out. Airbnb provided additional, affordable lodging options for college parents during university commencement weekends in cities like Columbia and Kansas City. However, home sharing growth has also helped open up Missouri’s less traditionally touristy communities to the economic benefits of travel — rural areas of Missouri saw some of the fastest Airbnb guest growth of any state in the nation.

And Missouri hotel revenue and prices continue to grow — in parallel to Airbnb’s growth. This suggests that Airbnb is opening up the state to a new slice of prospective tourists by catering to travelers less able to afford hotels, those who desire to stay in neighborhoods or cities that lack hotels, and families who prefer to be together under one roof.

Airbnb welcomes the opportunity to secure tax agreements with any additional Missouri municipalities who assess their taxes independently. Local governments should contact the company at taxagreements@airbnb.com to discuss further.

What follows is a city by city overview of the top 30 home sharing markets in Missouri from 2017:

About Airbnb
Founded in 2008, Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where people can belong when they travel by being connected to local cultures and having unique travel experiences. Its community marketplace provides access to millions of unique accommodations from apartments and villas to castles and treehouses in more than 65,000 cities and 191 countries. With Experiences, Airbnb offers unprecedented access to local communities and interests, while Places lets people discover the hidden gems of a city as recommended by the people that live there. Airbnb is people powered and the easiest way to earn a little extra income from extra space in a home or from sharing passions, interests and cities.