PIERRE, S.D. (KELO AM) Beginning September 1 the online company Airbnb will begin collecting and remitting state and municipal taxes on all eligible bookings in South Dakota.
It's a victory for South Dakota, struggling with downward trending tax revenues, in large part because of mushrooming sales online. Airbnb is not as big a prize as Amazon, which months ago, agreed to remit sales taxes to Pierre, but it's another big step in the right direction.
“Our community of hosts wants to pay their fair share of taxes and we want to help. We are excited to reach this agreement with the State of South Dakota to be able to collect and remit taxes on behalf of our hosts.” says Airbnb Spokeswoman Marisa Moret.
“We applaud Airbnb in coming to an agreement with us, and this is another example of the company’s leadership and innovation,” says State Department of Revenue Secretary Andy Gerlach. “This agreement is another step in the right direction in maintaining tax fairness as our economy continues to evolve.”
South Dakota has more than 600 Airbnb hosts, whose typical annual host income is $4,400. To date, there have been more than 160 million guest arrivals at Airbnb listings around the globe, including 26,000 in South Dakota in the last year.