If you rent out a holiday house, room or even your existing home for short stay holiday accommodation through providers like Airbnb and Bookabach, there’s some GST changes that you need to know about.

From 1 April, these operators became responsible for charging and collecting GST of 15% on all short-stay holiday lets and it applies even if you earn less than $60,000 a year and aren’t GST registered.

Here’s how the changes will work!

If you’re GST registered:

You need to let your online platform know that you’re GST registered.

You will no longer need to issue tax invoices to customers or the platform.

You will need to report your accommodation sales in your GST return as zero-rated.

You will still be entitled to claim GST on your costs, just as you’ve done in the past, but you won’t receive a flat rate credit from the platform.

If you’re not GST registered:

You won’t need to register or account for GST as the platform will do this for you. Don’t panic, this doesn’t mean that your property will instantly come into the ‘GST net’ and become taxable on sale.

As before, you’ll still need to monitor whether your short-stay property accommodation sales reach the GST threshold, and if they do, you’ll need to register for GST (and then the above will apply).

You should also receive extra money from the online platform, and this will be calculated at 8.5% of the GST exclusive price of your accommodation price.