Short-term rental operators in Toronto must file and pay the Municipal Accommodation Tax
Friday, 02 April 2021 12:00.PM
- Short-term rental operators in Toronto must file and pay the Municipal Accommodation Tax for the 2021 first quarter by April 30. -
Short-term rental operators in Toronto must file and pay the Municipal Accommodation Tax for the 2021 first quarter by April 30
Short-term rental operators renting homes or rooms for periods of less than 28 consecutive days must be registered with the City of Toronto. In addition, operators need to collect and pay a four per cent Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) on rental revenues. Today, the City launched an online MAT reporting tool. All short-term rental operators are required to report and submit their MAT payment for the first quarter of 2021 by April 30.
Operators are required to file a MAT report online for each reporting period, even if the short-term rental was not rented out. When using Airbnb to advertise their short-term rentals, operators can opt to have Airbnb collect and pay the MAT on their behalf; however, they still need to file their MAT report online. For auditing purposes, they are also required to keep a record of all accommodation transactions, including revenue collected and any exemptions that may apply during each reporting period for a minimum of three years. Once the MAT report is filed online, operators can make payments through their financial institution via online banking, telephone banking, at an automatic teller or in-person at City payment counters using their short-term rental registration number.
It is the operator’s responsibility to ensure that the correct amount of MAT is collected and paid to the City. The City may revoke short-term rental registration or deny registration renewal if operators fail to report and pay the MAT. More information about filing the MAT report, making payments, HST, interest and due dates is available at http://www.toronto.ca/Sho....
Since 2018, a four per cent MAT has been in place for hotels, motels, hostels and other properties that provide rental accommodation of more than four hours and less than 30 continuous days. This tax is collected by the Greater Toronto Hotel Association (GTHA) on the City’s behalf.
The MAT provides funding for Destination Toronto, which supports the tourism industry, as well as programs and services that visitors take advantage of when visiting, such as roads, transit, culture, parks, natural areas and recreation.
The City continues to make progress on the implementation of the Licensing and Registration of Short-Term Rentals bylaw, which came into effect in November 2019. Currently, Airbnb is the only company licensed with the City to offer short-term rentals. Booking.com is in the final stage of licensing. The bylaw is available online at http://www.toronto.ca/leg...
Short-term rental operators who were already operating in Toronto when the bylaw came into effect were required to register with the City by December 31, 2020. All new operators are able to register on an ongoing basis however, they must complete their registration before short-term renting their homes. An up-to-date listing of all short-term rental operator registrations can be found on the City’s Open Data catalogue at https://open.toronto.ca/d.../
The City’s enforcement approach was initially focused on educating short-term rental operators on the bylaw requirements, as well as investigating complaints made to 311. Beginning in 2021, the City has moved to active enforcement. This includes using data-scraping techniques to pull information from websites where operators post their listings to validate short-term rental activity in Toronto in addition to investigating complaints.
Residents can report issues related to short-term rentals, such as noise, waste and concerns that people are renting homes that are not their principal residence by calling 311 or submitting a complaint online at http://www.toronto.ca/hom.../.
Information about short-term rental rules and registration is available at http://www.toronto.ca/Sho....
SOURCE: City of Toronto