Airbnb short-term rentals: a safari of controls is coming

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) is planning sweeping checks to detect undeclared income from short-term rentals, following the explosion this year in Airbnb bookings.

The aim is to identify rentals that have not been declared through the short-term rental platforms or the declaration of smaller amounts than those received, through thorough cross-checks of owners' credit cards and bank accounts with data from these platforms.

In cases where it is found that properties have either not been registered in the Short-Term Properties Register, or have been posted on digital platforms without a visible indication of the Property Registration Number, the details of the properties and the «managers» will be sent to the tax authorities and the owners will be asked to pay a fine.

What will be checked

In particular, the tax services are to check:

• The details of the properties registered in Taxisnet, in order to identify the real owners of the properties.
• The data that the owners of rental properties through short-term leases have declared on the special platform of the Hellenic Tax Administration.
• The cross-referencing of the above data with the data that have been communicated to AADA by the short term rental companies, Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO.
• The information that owners declare on the E2 form.
• The movements of bank accounts and credit cards of property owners, as well as payments made by credit cards of customers, in order to establish the amounts paid.

Heavy fines

The legislation provides for stiff fines for formal and substantive infringements, namely:

If properties are identified that either were not registered in the «Short Term Accommodation Property Register», or were posted on digital platforms without a visible indication of the Short Term Accommodation Property Registration Number (SRN) or the Special Operating Signal (SOS) or the Unique Notification Number (UN), the details of the properties and «Managers» are sent to the competent tax authorities, showing the type of infringement and the date of its detection, and the owner is summoned within 10 days for a hearing at the Tax Office in order to explain.

The fine starts at €5,000 and is imposed for each of the following infringements:

• Failure to register in the «Register of Short Term Properties»
• Not prominently displaying the registration number in the «Short Term Properties Registry» in the posting of the «Property» on digital platforms as well as in any other means of display,
• Non-obvious indication of the number of the Special Operating Signal (S.O.S.) or the Unique Notification Number (U.N.N.) in the posting of the «Property» on digital platforms as well as in any other means of display, by the «Managers» for whom there is no obligation to register in the «Registry of Short Term Properties».

The fine is imposed on the «Manager» and if it does not appear that the «Manager» is a sub-tenant or a third party, the fine is imposed on the owner or usufructuary of the property.

In the event of a repeat offence within one year of the adoption of the act imposing the fine and if the 15-day deadline for the completion of the compliance actions of the «Administrator» has expired, the fine is doubled (10,000 euros) and in the case of each subsequent infringement of the same type, the fine is four times the amount of the fine initially imposed, i.e. 20,000 euros.