The La Rochelle court on Friday sentenced Airbnb to a fine of 30,000 euros for failure to collect the tourist tax in 2021 on the island of Oléron.
On the other hand, it decided to postpone ruling on the requests made by the island’s community of municipalities for 2020, pending the final settlement of another dispute between the two parties to find out whether the tax was due this year. I.
The Olron community claimed a penalty of more than 12 million euros for 2021, i.e. the maximum fine provided for by law in the event of failure to pay the tourist tax (2,500 euros), multiplied by the number of nights concerned. over the year (more than 5,000).
It is asking for a fine of more than 17 million euros for 2020 (nearly 7,000 nights) using the same argument.
The fine of 30,000 euros pronounced for 2021 by the judge, in respect of the absence of collection and payment of the tourist tax and the omissions and inaccuracies noted in the declaration for its recovery, corresponds to 15% of the tax arrears of stay already reimbursed by Airbnb in the fall.
The president of the community of communes, Michel Parent, described this judgment as the first historic victory. I thank the court for having courageously stated the law, despite the imbalance of forces present. History will remember that a small island in the Atlantic brought down the American giant of digital tourism. A strong symbol and I hope an example for others, he added in a press release.
This decision confirms that the fine requested by Olron was disproportionate, retorted Airbnb, noting that the amount of the fine pronounced is approximately 400 times lower.
We resolved the issue Olron identified last year, when we were made aware of it, and all under-raised amounts have already been paid to Olron from Airbnb’s own funds, with late interest, the rental platform adds. .
The community indicates that it will initiate a new litigation procedure against Airbnb concerning the collection and repayment of the tourist tax for 2022, and recalls that another is in progress against the Booking platform.
Airbnb claims to collect tourist tax in more than 23,000 municipalities in France, which brought them more than 148 million euros in 2022 according to the platform.