To rent out a room, appartments or other property via the online booking site Airbnb renters will have to pay the equivalent of the tax applied to hotels starting on 1 February. It was announced by Brussels minister-president Rudi Vervoort.
Up to now, municipalities have applied the hotel tax at varying rates and using different methods: In Brussels-City, tax has been paid according to the actual occupancy of each room, while in Saint-Gilles, the tax has been charged annually, regardless of the level of occupancy.
Airbnb renters who paid no taxes before – now will have to pay the tax of €3 per night. However, from an estimated 7,000 people offering accommodation in the capital via the site, fewer than 2,000 have registered their accommodation with their municipality. More than half of those registrations come from Brussels-City, Vervoort told parliament.
Airbnb has complained that the rules are too complex; Vervoort said that the new regulations would be evaluated after 18 months.