A showdown is underway between the famous leading platform for seasonal rentals and the community of municipalities on the island of Oléron, in Charente-Maritime. Airbnb challenged on Tuesday before the La Rochelle court the some 30 million euros claimed by the community, for failure to collect the tourist tax in 2020 and 2021. “Oléron’s approach is a reprisal “, lamented the lawyer for the tourist rental platform, Me Thomas Rouhette, before the court which put his decision under advisement on June 16.
He pointed out that this sum represented “75 times the amount of tax due” and that after a first showdown, the tourist tax was paid with interest last September, Airbnb having then paid “nearly 405,000 euros for 2020 and 2021”. The Cléron community considers for its part that this payment did not settle the dispute because “the law provides for sanctions” against this type of breach, explains its lawyer, Jonathan Bellaïche.
12,000 targeted stays
The amount claimed, for a total amount of 29.7 million euros, corresponds to the maximum fine provided for by the local authorities code in the event of failure to pay the tourist tax, i.e. 2,500 euros, multiplied by the number of stays concerned over the period (nearly 12,000).
In its summons, the community of municipalities criticizes Airbnb for not having made a “declaration relating to the tourist tax” the first year, then produced an “incomplete and erroneous” declaration the following year.
Me Thomas Rouhette justified these shortcomings by a problem of interpretation of the law, which had just changed, for 2020. And by a “computer configuration error of the seasonality of the tax” the following year. According to him, “the benefit gained is nil, there is no enrichment (because) Airbnb is only a hatch, an intermediary between individuals and communities.
“Today, it is Oléron who dares to stand up in front of Airbnb but other municipalities are waiting to see what will happen before this court, there is a real issue”, pleaded Me Adèle Azzi, lawyer who represented at the hearing the interests of the community of communes of the island of Oléron.
“Airbnb represents 90% of the short-term rental market and France is its second market after the United States. That’s nearly eight billion in sales. This topic has not been taken seriously by Airbnb,” she insisted.