Short-term accommodation services company Airbnb is obliged to provide information in rental contracts to tax authorities, an adviser to Europe's top court said on Thursday, in another potential legal setback in Europe for the company.
Airbnb has in recent years found itself at loggerheads with
authorities in several European Union countries, arguing that taxation and
other requirements contravene the EU principle of the freedom to provide
services across the 27-country bloc.
The latest case involves a 2017 Italian law requiring Airbnb
and other short-term rental sites to forward information from their rental
contracts and withhold 21% from the rental income and pay it to tax
authorities.
The company challenged the law in an Italian court which
subsequently sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the
European Union (CJEU).
ECJ Advocate General Maciej Szpunar backed the Italian law.
His opinion is non-binding but the ECJ usually follows four out of five such
recommendations.
"Article 56 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union) in relation to the freedom to provide services does not
preclude the obligation to collect and transmit information or to withhold
tax," Szpunar said.
"It is perfectly consistent to impose the obligation to
withhold tax on intermediaries involved in the payment of rent, given that the
activity of a large number of natural persons who are not subject to the
obligations incumbent on professionals is, by its nature, difficult to audit
for tax purposes."
He agreed with Airbnb's argument in one aspect.
"However, the obligation to appoint a tax
representative constitutes a disproportionate restriction on the freedom to
provide services," Szpunar said.
Airbnb said: "Airbnb wants to be a good partner on tax
and we support a consistent, standardized approach to information sharing,
which is why we welcome the agreement by EU Member States on a common tax
reporting framework for digital platforms, known as DAC 7."
The CJEU will rule on the case in coming months. In April,
the court rejected a similar challenge by Airbnb to Belgian regional
legislation requiring it to provide information to tax authorities on tourist
transactions.
The case is C-83/21 Airbnb Ireland and Airbnb Payments UK.
0 comments:
Post a Comment