County has reservations on Airbnb tax deal

Navigating the evolving online marketplace can prove challenging for almost anybody — just ask Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates.

For more than a year, she’s been working to get rental properties listed on the website Airbnb to pay the local tourist development tax. Although the tax collector’s office was able to reach out to certain renters and bring them into compliance, the online service did not uniformly apply the tax to all renters using the website.

Earlier this year, Ford-Coates was optimistic about reaching a deal with the San Francisco-based company, in which Airbnb would collect the tax from renters and transmit funds to the county. In 2015, Airbnb struck a deal with the Florida Department of Revenue, which collects tourist taxes for 22 counties.

At a November Tourist Development Council meeting, that optimism disappeared. Ford-Coates reported Airbnb was refusing to comply with the same standards as other renters, and said the county was considering joining Monroe County and other jurisdictions in a lawsuit against the company.

Airbnb wanted the county to waive all back taxes for renters. The company also wanted to restrict the county’s access to information regarding renters using the site, Ford-Coates said.

“Those items were the kind of things that give you a feeling in your pit of your stomach that it’s just not the right thing to do,” she said.

Benjamin Breit, an Airbnb spokesman, said the company was still willing to “help unlock hundreds of thousands of dollars” in tourist tax funds.

“Thirty-one other Florida counties — including similarly large counties like Orange, Pinellas and Lee — have taken advantage of this new revenue stream by collaborating with us on voluntary collection agreements,” Breit wrote in an email.

Ford-Coates isn’t certain exactly how much money the county might be missing out on,  but her office remains vigilant in its effort to enforce the tourist tax. The tax collector has tip lines and reaches out to condominiums to discover rental properties that may not be paying their share.

Once those properties are located, Ford-Coates said compliance usually isn’t a challenge.

“A lot of people aren’t collecting it because they just don’t know,” she said. 

Although Ford-Coates is hopeful the county might join the lawsuit, that decision falls to the County Commission. The county attorney’s office said there had been preliminary discussions with Monroe County regarding a lawsuit, but talks are still early.

“We have been proactively engaging Sarasota County policymakers in an attempt to help unlock hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tourist development tax revenue related to home sharing.” — Benjamin Breit

There’s no consensus from traditional hotel and resort owners regarding the impact of Airbnb, but there is concern about establishing a level playing field. Terri Noyes, the owner of Hotel Ranola, expressed frustration about some renters avoiding the tourist tax.

“It’s hospitality,” Noyes said. “Basically, they’re offering the same services we do.”

Ford-Coates understands that frustration — which is why she’s fighting to get Airbnb to comply.

“That’s not fair,” Ford-Coates said. “If your neighbor is advertising in the paper for their rental and they’re paying their fair share, why in the world wouldn’t an Airbnb renter be subject to the exact same provisions?”