Airbnb has collected and paid more than $4.5M to the CDMX

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Greg Greeley, President of Airbnb, spoke with Forbes Mexico about how the platform works on the regulatory issue in countries where it has a presence.

At the time, he was also Vice President of Amazon Prime. Greeley talked about how he and his team have worked closely with authorities and regulators around the world, to adapt to the regulatory frameworks for payment of taxes as well as local regulations.

Following what Greeley explained, the platform has announced the amount correspondence to the withholding and payment of the lodging tax in Mexico City, which corresponds to 90.3 million pesos (about $4.6 million) from June 1, 2017 to October 31, 2019.

Regarding the amount, Airbnb confirmed that during 2017 it collected and paid 13.5 million pesos (about $690,00), 35.2 million pesos (about $1.7 million) in 2018 and 41.5 million pesos (about $2 million) from January to October of this year 2019. The collection and payment of the tax It began since June 2017, when voluntary compliance with collection in CDMX was incorporated into the regulations.

“We work closely with regulators around the world to ensure that they put in an appropriate regulatory framework for each place, because each country and city has different needs and we believe it is important that they recognize that what we do is enable local entrepreneurs and that It is not only the magic of traveling, but the magic of economic empowerment that we are creating, and we do not want to ignore the fact that the individual host is being given the opportunity to become a travel entrepreneur."

In a document, the firm indicates that Mexico City is not the only state where the platform collects and pays this tax, in just 18 months of having started operations in Mexico, the company already collects and delivers the lodging tax in the following states: Baja California Norte y Sur, Mexico City, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa and Yucatán, the last being the State of Mexico, last August.

“We have more than 500 different cities in which we are partners to promote a regulatory framework that works for each one according to their needs, but the basis we want to create is preparing the host who is looking to make this activity an additional income or that pursue your passion to share your home or be part of the Airbnb experience. We will work closely in regulatory environments to ensure that they set the correct regulatory framework according to these needs,” said the President of Airbnb in May.

The short-term accommodation platform, which is one of the only digital companies in the country that collects this tax from tourists visiting the city, said it seeks to continue collaborating with the authorities for the formalization of short-term accommodation and the promotion of tourism in the country.

Regarding the proposal presented by the capital authorities within the Revenue Law Initiative of Mexico City for the fiscal year 2020 to increase the tax from 3% to 5%, the company said the proposal was hardly presented, so it is in the process of analyzing it in depth to determine the implications it may have.

Jorge Balderrama, Public Policy Manager of Airbnb Mexico said:

“Our purpose is to help states and cities to develop tourism by opening new and different lodging options, but we know that it is also our responsibility to work hand in hand with the authorities to do so in an orderly manner, contributing to the collection and payment of the corresponding taxes."

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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