Airbnb: Secrets and Pitfalls of Short-Term Rentals – The Ultimate 14-Point Guide

Taxes, fees, all procedures and obligations that owners and managers of short-term rentals should be aware of. From the essentials, the self-evident, to answers that only experts know.

1 End of climate crisis resilience: Properties available through short-term rental are subject to a climate crisis resilience fee in favor of the State, per daily use and per room or apartment:

  • 1.50 euros during the months of March to October,
  • 0.50 euros during the months of November to February.

If the properties available through short-term rental are single-family houses over 80 m2, a durability fee of 10 euros, or 4 euros, respectively, is imposed.

It is noted that a new provision provides for the increase of the resilience fee in the climate crisis. The amounts of 0.5 euros and 1.5 euros, once the provision is passed, will become 1.5 euros and 8 euros, respectively, with the relevant bill expected in Parliament in mid-October.

2 Accommodation fee for transients: Also, short-term leases are subject to the temporary resident fee, which is calculated as 0.5% of the rent paid. This applies to every lease. The fee return declaration is submitted by natural persons who own three or more properties and by legal entities.

3 Taxes and procedures: In the event that a property owner or manager proceeds to a short-term lease of his property, he has the following basic tax obligations:

* To be registered in the “Register of Short-Term Accommodation Properties” maintained by the Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE).

* To register the property in the special application for Short-Term Property Rentals on the AADE website and, specifically, in the “Short-Term Property Register”. The registration in the Register of Short-Term Accommodation Properties is carried out per rented property. With the registration of each property, a Property Registration Number (AMA) is granted.

* Mandatory to post the Real Estate Registry Number, in a prominent place, on digital platforms, as well as on any media, if it is displayed through them.

* To submit a “Short-term Residence Declaration” for each short-term rental. The deadline for each statement is until the 20th of the following month from the day the tenant leaves the property and is submitted through the above application. In case of cancellation of the lease and when, based on the policy of cancellation, payment of rent is foreseen by the lessee, an initial “Short Term Stay Declaration” must be submitted by the 20th of the month following the cancellation.

* To finalize the information he has registered in the “Register of Short-Term Accommodation Properties” by February 28 of the year of submission of the Income Tax Declaration, in order to determine the taxable income per income beneficiary.

In the event that a Special Operating Mark (ESL) has been acquired or a Tourist Furnished Home notification has been submitted and it is rented for a short time through a digital platform, all the above obligations apply, with the difference that:

* upon registration of the property in the “Register of Short-term Accommodation Properties” a Property Registry Number will not be granted,

* the property will be registered in the Registry with the ESL or the Unique Notification Number (UNIN) it has and

* the ESL or MAG should be posted on the digital platforms.

4 New provisions for declarations and income: There is no obligation to submit a “Short-Term Residence Declaration” but a “Property Lease Information Statement” for leases or subleases of 60 days or more for which no other services are provided than accommodation and the provision of bed linen, even if they are concluded via a digital platform.

Also, in relation to the income declared from the short-term rental, this is the total agreed rent, the total amount based on the cancellation policy paid by the renter on a case-by-case basis, which does not include taxes and transaction fees.

5 “Natural Person” with up to two properties: For those who are not entrepreneurs, i.e. Natural Persons, who carry out or are going to carry out short-term leases with up to two properties, the above tax obligations apply, while the income from natural persons:

  • is income from real estate and
  • Article 39 and paragraph 4 of Article 40 of Law 4172/2013 (A’ 240) apply

6 “Income from real estate, so without 13% VAT”: This income is taxed in any case as income from real estate and not as income from business activity. Important that in the event that the natural person submits a declaration of commencement of work, with one of the Activity Code Numbers (KAD) relating to short-term lease (as listed below) and there is no exploitation of three or more properties or provision of additional services (The only permitted , is the provision of bed linen), the provisions on taxation of income as income from business activity do not apply. This means that it is not subject to 13% VAT. Well, they are exempt from VAT and taxed as real estate income.

7 Natural Person who manages three or more properties: This is the intermediate stage between the simple owner who simply rents out his property and the normal company. According to the AADE guide, you have all the basic tax obligations and in addition you must:

* Submit a declaration of commencement of work or change of work, through the “My Requests” application on the myAADE digital portal (myaade.gov.gr or through myAADEapp) and declare, as the case may be, the Activity Code Numbers (KAD) relating to short term rental (KAD 55.20.11.06 or KAD 55.20.11.07).

* Join the normal VAT regime (unless you meet the conditions for inclusion in one of the special regimes that can be used for this activity, e.g. small business regime).

* Maintain a reliable accounting system and appropriate accounting records as well as transmit data to the digital platform myDATA of AADE.

8) Almost… “business”: The AADE clarifies that the income obtained by natural persons, from the short-term rental of three or more properties, is considered as income from business activity. The provision of the relevant properties for short-term accommodation is subject, as a service, to VAT at a rate of 13%.

9) The property becomes a “business establishment” and end of business: “Properties” that are leased or sublet, without the provision of services other than the provision of bed linen by natural persons, who lease or sublet three or more properties and obtain income from business activity, are considered business establishments (with headquarters and branches) of as the above persons and the provisions on the imposition of a pretense fee shall apply.

The fine print for Legal Entities

10 Are you a Legal Entity and do short-term rentals? Normal business. In this case you have all the basic tax obligations and in addition you must:

* Submit a declaration of change of work through the “My Requests” application on the digital portal myAADE (myaade.gov.gr) and declare, as the case may be, the Code Numbers of Activities related to short-term rental (KAD 55.20.11.06 or KAD 55.20. 11.07).

* Join the normal VAT regime (unless there are conditions for inclusion in one of the special regimes, e.g. small business regime).

The income obtained by legal entities from the short-term rental of real estate is considered, in any case, income from business activity. The provision of the relevant properties for short-term accommodation is subject, as a service, to VAT at a rate of 13%. And in this case, the “properties”, are considered as professional premises and the provisions on the imposition of a business fee apply.

Mistakes when posting on digital platforms

11 Avoiding mistakes when posting the property registration number on digital platforms: In order to avoid common mistakes when posting the property on digital platforms, as well as on any media, AADE points out to Administrators that they must register a valid registry number, exactly as this number is provided by the competent Greek Authorities, taking into account given that:

  • acronyms (ESL/MAG/AMA/MITE) should NOT be added before the number,
  • zeros (usually at the beginning or end of the number) should NOT

are omitted,

  • “AMA” numbers must have 11 digits, “ESL” numbers must have 16 digits and “MAG” numbers must have 7 digits.

A special note is made for those who have received a Unique Notification Number “MAG” in place of the Special Operation Mark “ESL” who should post the “MAG” and not the “ESL”. Also, the same ‘AMA’ number cannot be used when posting different properties on the digital platforms.

What applies to administrators

12 The “managers” and the “properties” through the eyes of the Tax Office: For AADE, as a short-term rental property manager is the natural or legal person who undertakes its posting, on digital platforms, for the purpose of short-term rental and generally takes care of its short-term rental. “Property manager” can be:

* the main owner of the property or

* the usufructuary or

* the sublessor or

* third party

13 when the administrator is a “third party”: If the main owner (or the usufructuary or the sublessee) entrusts the management of the property to a third party, for the purpose of short-term leasing, then he is obliged to submit a Real Property Lease Information Statement in which he will register the details of the property manager. In case of non-submission, he is considered the manager of the property. As an “Administrator” a third party is exclusively:

* the guardian of the scholastic inheritance,

* the estate liquidator,

* the executor of the will,

* the bankruptcy trustee,

* the temporary administrator,

* the guarantor,

* the trustee or guardian or legal assistant or parent exercising parental care as the case may be.

14 Co-ownership of property: In the case of co-ownership of a property, when the manager of the property is one of the co-owners, the other co-owners are not required to submit a Property Lease Information Statement. On the other hand, if the main owner of the property (or the usufructuary or the sublessor), if he leases property with a right to sublet, he still has the obligation to submit the Property Lease Information Statement.

New record in August in the number accommodations

They broke their record again in August and reached 232,841 accommodations and 1,022,633 beds. According to INSETE data it is the highest level of available accommodation and beds it has recorded so far, with the previous record set in July with 232,196 accommodation and 1,020,996 beds.

On the other hand, just because there are more, doesn’t mean they were full. The average occupancy was at 59% in August which was also the best performance of the year, while in August hotel occupancies reached almost 100%.

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