Short-term Lease

As of 1.1.2018, the income earned by an individual from the short-term lease of a property with Airbnb is an income from real estate, provided that the property is rented furnished without the provision of any service other than the provision of bed linen.

How will the income from Airbnb be taxed?

In this case the rents are taxed on the following scale:

for income up to 12,000 euros with 15%,
for income from € 12,001 to € 35,000 with 35%
the excess income by 45%.

If any other services are provided, this income will be treated as income from business activity and is taxed at 22% up to the first 20,000 euros, 29% in the segment from 20,001 to 30,000 euros, 37% in the segment from 30,001 to 40,000 euros and 45% in the section over 40,000 euros. Income from Airbnb is exempt from VAT, so it is not possible to offset or refund the VAT charged on the property's costs. Also, this income, as income from real estate, is not subject to insurance contributions. From New Year's Eve, short-term leases to be concluded via digital platforms for a specific duration of less than a year should be reported by the "manager" to the relevant electronic application of the AAD, namely the Short Term Real Estate Registry, where the "manager" registration per leased property. "Rain" fines
In a circular of the Governor of the Independent Public Revenue Authority, George Pitsilis, it is foreseen that when registering, the details of the manager, the beneficiaries of rental income and the property data should be reported. If registration is not recorded, if the registration number in the register or the special function signal number is not shown on digital platforms and on any other media, a fine will be imposed on the administrators. Those who do not discipline the law and are not registered in the real estate register of the ΑΑΔΕ will be faced with a fine of 5,000 euros, which will double to 10,000 euros if the same offense is committed in one year.

New obligations (and penalties for those who ignore them) arise for owners who lease their property through Airbnb and other similar platforms, based on a decision signed by the head of the Independent Public Revenue Authority, Giorgos Pitsilis. According to the decision, the income from the exploitation of real estate via Airbnb that will be acquired this year will be declared only in the tax return to be submitted by the persons liable in 2018. For next year, those who rent out real estate via an online platform will have to declare them in a specific application of the AAD. A prerequisite is registration in the Short-Term Real Estate Registry, while for offenders a fine of 5,000 euros is foreseen. The decision identifies the obligations of the owners, the registration procedure in the Short-Term Real Estate Register, as well as the procedure for submission of the Short-Term Residence Statement. All procedures will be completed electronically via the ADAC website. The decision sets the conditions for determining, for each fiscal year, the total short-term lease income obtained in the context of the sharing economy, as well as the possibility to carry out electronic crossings from own or third sources. This Decision applies to short-term leases in the context of the sharing economy, concluded from 1.1.2018 onwards. Specifically for the tax year 2017, incomes from the short-term lease of real estate shares of the sharing economy will be shown separately and collectively in the income tax return forms of the year.

In particular, according to the decision, the Operator, the meaning of which is defined in the relevant provision of Law 4446/2016, as amended and in force, is obliged to proceed with the following movements:

• Registration in the Short-Term Real Estate Register,
• Submission of Short Term Residence Declaration per tenant,
• Registration in the Register of Short-Term Real Estate Records (co-beneficiaries of income, percentages etc.) necessary for the determination of the annual income of no. 39A of Law 4172/2013, per beneficiary of income.
• Public deposit with the Deposits and Loans Fund (TSI) of the amount attributable to unknown beneficiaries of income, which the Operator could not know when registering the Property on the Short-Term Real Estate Register.

A short-term lease manager is defined either as the owner of the property or the landlord or sub-lender or third party (heritage guardian, estate agent, executor, bankruptcy trustee, interim trustee, associate, guardian or custodian or legal guardian or parent, parent) care on a case-by-case basis). In the event that the Administrator rents separately on the platform more than one site in the same property, he / she must obtain a separate registry number for each of them. It is underlined that for each property only one "Administrator" is defined.
The Operator has the obligation to register all the required data and to finalize the Short-Term Real Estate Register no later than the date of application for the submission of the income tax returns for each tax year, with the possibility to amend it up to the deadline for submission of the income tax return. If it fails to finalize the data by this deadline, the data entered in the Register is considered to be final. Data entered in the Short-Term Statement by short-term lease are at least the registration number in the Short Term Residence Register, the total agreed rent or the total amount based on the cancellation policy, the name of the digital platform, the tenant's details, the start - end of the lease and the method of payment of the rent.
For each of the following violations:
a. Failure to register in the Short Term Residence Register,
b. Invalid entry of the registration number in the Short-Term Real Estate Register upon posting the Property on digital platforms, as well as on any other media,
c. Not displaying the Special Functional Symbol (ESA) number on the posting of the Property on digital platforms and on any other means of display, by the Operators, for which there is no obligation to register in the Short Term Real Estate Register, is required a separate administrative fine of € 5,000 to the Administrators.

According to the recent decision of the Independent Authority Revenue income from any short-term hiring should be reported to the register within 24 hours of check-out of tenant rents the short-term apartment. Ivacation undertakes the process of declaring all leases in due time and at no cost to the owner once the application of the AAD has been put into operation. The process of integrating the property into the "sharing economy" and the registration in the register in accordance with the provisions of the PD 1187/2017 is fully dealt with by Ivacation.