How to get a VAT invoice from Airbnb

Find your VAT invoice as a guest

Airbnb puts a link to the VAT invoice in your email receipt, under the Airbnb service fee. If you can't find the email, use the website or app:

1. Go to Trips and select the reservation.
2. Under Payment info, select Get receipt.
3. The receipt includes a link to the VAT invoice.

If you paid in more than one instalment, go to Payments, pick the payment, and open its receipt. Each receipt links to its own VAT invoice.

You can download, print or email the receipt itself from the same place. The receipt shows the whole booking. The VAT invoice only shows the service fee and the VAT on it.

Find your VAT invoice as a host

Hosts can get Airbnb's VAT invoices in their account too, in the regions where Airbnb issues them:

1. For a current or upcoming stay, go to Today, open the reservation, select the total price and then VAT invoice.
2. For a past stay, go to Menu, then Earnings. Under Paid, select the reservation, then Details, the amount and VAT invoice.
3. To get a month at once, go to Account settings, Taxes, Tax documents, Invoices, pick the month and choose CSV or PDF.

Host VAT invoices go back 12 months. If you add a verified VAT ID to your account, Airbnb includes it on VAT invoices created after that, not on older ones.

What Airbnb's VAT invoice doesn't cover

Airbnb is clear about the limits:

• It's issued when VAT is charged on Airbnb service fees. The nightly rate and cleaning fee are the host's charges, not Airbnb's.
• VAT invoices aren't available in every country. Where they aren't, the reservation receipt or earnings show the VAT charged.
• Airbnb can't change a VAT invoice once it's issued. It uses the name and address in your account when the reservation is accepted.
• VAT invoices aren't available for Chinese guests' bookings outside mainland China. Those guests can still get a receipt.

So if your company needs a VAT invoice for the whole trip, the Airbnb one is only part of it.

Getting a VAT invoice for the stay

Ask the host, ideally before you book. Airbnb itself suggests contacting the host if you need more documents for travel.

Whether the host can give you a VAT invoice depends on whether they're registered for VAT. Not every host is: in the UK, for example, a business only has to register once its taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in 12 months. If the host isn't registered, they can still give you an ordinary invoice or receipt, and Airbnb lets hosts print reservation details with the guest's name, dates, confirmation code and what was paid.

For hosts: issue the invoice yourself

If you're VAT registered and a guest asks for a VAT invoice, you can make one below. It's set up as a VAT invoice in pounds with sample accommodation and cleaning lines. Change the currency if you host outside the UK.

To fill it in:

1. Put your name or business, address and VAT number in the From box. Put the guest's name, or their company's, and billing address in the To box.
2. Change the nights, dates and prices to match the booking. Add the VAT rate that applies to your stays on each line.
3. Write the Airbnb confirmation code in the notes, so the guest's finance team can match the two documents. Write the date of supply too, if it's different from the invoice date.
4. Download the PDF and send it through Airbnb messages or by email.

In the UK, HMRC's VAT Notice 700/21 lists what a full VAT invoice must show. That includes a sequential number, the time of supply, your VAT number, the customer's name and address, the quantity and unit price, the VAT rate and the total VAT in sterling. If the stay costs £250 or less including VAT, HMRC allows a simplified VAT invoice with fewer details.

List only your own charges. Airbnb issues its own VAT invoice for its service fee.