Inese Aleksa - AirBnB host,
Photographer | Latvia
You are one of the best hosts of
Airbnb in Latvia and have a status of
“Super Host”. Can you please tell us
how everything started with Airbnb
and in general how Airbnb regulated
in European countries connected with
taxation?
started working as a host recently,
about 8 months ago. Before that I
worked for Airbnb for several years
as a freelance photographer — I
photographed houses and apartments
of other Hosts. This is a unique
experience because due to the work
of a photographer, I was able to
visit many houses and apartments,
communicate with interesting people
of different professions that provide
the guests from around the world
their own unique accommodation.
So, year after year, I developed a
certain concept of apartment design
and I tested in practice the set of
my own rules concerning the guest
accommodation and cleanliness
maintenance, and it worked. My
observance and experience as a
photographer had a great role in this.
But I knew people who just as quickly
received Superhost status and in the
aftermath retained it for years, initially
having no experience in this job, but
having a great desire to welcome
guests, communicate and learn new
things.
As for the taxation for this kind of
activity, I can only say about Latvia
and my own experience. I work as
an “individual entrepreneur”, do
accounting, submit a tax declaration
every year and pay income tax of 23%.
You can work on the Airbnb platform
as a private individual or as a company,
and depending on the amount of
income, the tax rate also changes.
Each country has its own tax laws and
Airbnb advises you to contact the local
tax authority for the consultation.
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