Airbnb to begin collecting Colorado taxes for hosts

DENVER — Short-term vacation site Airbnb will soon collect Colorado state sales tax online, meaning hosts don’t have to act as taxmen.

The Denver Post reports (http://dpo.st/2kVPVDk ) that Airbnb will collect Colorado sales taxes online beginning Wednesday. Prior to the change, hosts were expected to collect and remit the state’s 2.9 percent sales tax themselves.

In Denver, Airbnb hosts will still have to do some math as they are still be responsible for collecting the city’s 10.75 percent lodger’s tax. Denver hopes to have new rules in place allowing third-party vendors to collect the tax by June.

Tax experts say resort communities stand to see hundreds of thousands of dollars annually not that Airbnb collects taxes instead of hosts.