Tripadvisor and AirBnB handing over EU citizens' taxpayer information to US tax authority: questions to the Commission

Met dank overgenomen van S.H. (Sophie) in 't Veld i, gepubliceerd op maandag 9 april 2018.

Today Sophie in 't Veld submitted questions to the Commission about peculiar tax reporting practices by holiday rental platforms. Tripadvisor en AirBnB are required to collect taxpayer information from EU citizens who host guests through these platforms outside of the US, and hand this over to the US tax authority. In 't Veld would like to know from the Commission if it considers this practice to be in line with EU data protection law, and whether the Commission will bring this up with the US to end this overreach of US tax laws to Europe.

Question to the Commission:

Subject: Holiday rental platforms required to hand over EU citizens' tax information to US tax authority

Internet platforms for renting out (holiday) accommodation, such as AirBnB and Tripadvisor, are required to collect taxpayer information from EU citizens who host guests through these platforms outside of the United States, and hand this over to the American federal tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [1].The objective of this practice is to certify whether the host is a US citizen, and therefore to determine if the earnings through these platforms are subject to US tax reporting, in the context of FATCA.

Is the Commission aware of this practice, and will the Commission investigate if there are further cases?

Does the Commission consider this practice to be in line with EU data protection rules, and if not, will it start infringement procedures against Member States that fail to adequately enforce the EU data protection rules?

Does the Commission agree that this creeping jurisdictional overreach of US tax laws and the failure to respect EU laws by US government authorities is unacceptable, and will the Commission raise this as a matter of urgency with its US counterparts with a view to putting an immediate end to this practice?

[1]

https://rentalsupport.tripadvisor.com/articles/FAQ/Why-do-I-need-to-submit-my-taxpayer-information?l=en_GB

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/122/why-is-airbnb-requesting-my-taxpayer-information

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