Information about HOT tax for my Airbnb in San Antonio!

[Jillian Lofrese]

I listed my first investment property, a 3 bed/3ba near Lackland AFB, on Airbnb Jan 2022. I registered with the city and got a HOT# and provided it to Airbnb. I paid the fee and thought I was covered for 3 years. I assumed the "occupancy tax" I was seeing taken out of my bookings on Airbnb was covering this. Come to find out that I was supposed to be remitting this to the City of San Antonio 9% and Bexar County 1.75% monthly. And now I have penalties and interest due for a year.

For all of you STR owners in San Antonio, can you please offer some guidance about the monthly City of San Antonio Hotel Occupancy Tax Reports?

My specific questions:

- What does #1 "total room receipts" entail? Does this include cleaning fee? Should I only input the amount for stays under 30 days?

- What qualifies for #2 "less exempt room receipts"?

-What is the occupancy tax that Airbnb has been taking out then? Who are they paying that tax to?

My CPA went through each month and added the penalties and interest. I'm in awe of what I owe. Not only did I not make a profit, I'm very much in the negative if these amounts are correct.

Thank you to anyone who can offer some advice. Much appreciated.

[Paul Duran]

Hi Jillian, 

I am not sure about your questions on the 'room receipts', but I am a Realtor and do have a couple properties on AirBnB in San Antonio and can share some insight. So unfortunately, it looks like you may owe the city and county some back taxes. They require for us to pay 10.75% (9% to city, 1.75% to county) of our earnings each month. So for example, I make sure to pay my taxes on the 10th of every month for the month prior. Unfortunately this is the cost of having a STR here. You can go to the link below to make the payments. If you haven't done so already for January 2023 earnings, I'd recommend doing that before the end of February. Lastly, it's my understanding that the occupancy tax you see AirBnB charge is what they charge to the guests, but is not the 10.75% that we would owe. For the 'room receipts' question I'd recommend contacting the city and AirBnB as well as consulting with your CPA.