The Finance Committee of the National Assembly adopted an amendment to the draft Budget 2025 which forces rental companies of furnished tourist accommodation, particularly on Airbnb, to charge VAT to their tenants, as is the case for hotels.
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– For Horizons de l’Indre MP François Jolivet, author of the adopted amendment, the services of Airbnb rental companies are, as for hotels, “purely commercial acts, which must therefore be subject to VAT”
Bad news is raining down on renters of furnished tourist accommodation. After the increase in taxation on capital gains from transfer, the finance committee of the National Assembly adopted, Thursday October 17, an amendment to the finance bill (PLF) for 2025 which subjects rentals of the type Airbnb at payment of VAT. Concretely, if you own accommodation that you rent for short periods via platforms such as Airbnb and Abritel, you will have to, if this amendment remains in the final version of the PLF, invoice VAT at the rate of 10% to your tenants. An increase in prices likely to make furnished tourist accommodation less attractive than hotels.
Currently, furnished tourist accommodation is only subject to VAT if they provide three of the following services: breakfast, regular cleaning of the premises, supply of household linen and customer reception. However, it is very rare for Airbnb rental companies to provide even two of these services. Their services are generally limited to cleaning the premises. Reception of tenants is not systematic, as evidenced by the numerous key boxes allowing “independent” arrival. The provision of linen is often optional. As for breakfast, it simply exists. The vast majority of furnished rental companies therefore do not charge VAT to their tenants, unlike hotels.
Tourist rental: the “anti-Airbnb” bill returns to Parliament on October 28
A “common sense” amendment
For the Horizons de l’Indre MP François Jolivet, author of the adopted amendment, the services of Airbnb rental companies are, as for hotels, “purely commercial acts, which must therefore be subject to VAT”. A position shared by other deputies. “The European directive on VAT provides that rental companies of furnished tourist accommodation are exempt from VAT unless they compete with the hotel sector”recalls Charles de Courson, Liot deputy (Liberties, independents, territories and overseas) of Marne and general rapporteur of the 2025 Budget project to the Finance Committee. For him, “the question is therefore whether there is competition”. “Hoteliers saying “yes””Charles de Courson believes “that we can try to put back in a situation of fair competition renters of furnished tourist accommodation and hoteliers”.
Beyond the reestablishment of fair competition between Airbnb rental companies and the hotel industry, François Jolivet sees in his amendment a means of “promote family housing»rented for long periods. Indeed, if tourists turn away from Airbnbs because of prices that have become prohibitive under the effect of VAT, this type of rental investment will lose its interest. “Furnished tourist accommodation has big tax benefits, so much so that in the Basque Country, we no longer have housing for the people who live and work there”scolds socialist deputy Peio Dufau. His colleague from Pyrénées-Atlantiques Inaki Echaniz, co-author of the anti-Airbnb bill which will return to Parliament on October 28, also approves the amendment “common sense” by François Jolivet, who “will promote sustainable housing”. “Let’s try, we’ll see what the government’s reaction will be during the session”that is to say when the PLF 2025 will be examined by all the deputies of the National Assembly, adds Charles de Courson.
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