PARIS: Online home-rental marketplace Airbnb paid less than 70,000 euros in taxes in France in 2015, 18% less than the previous year, even though Paris is the company’s most popular destination, French newspaper Le Parisien reported on Thursday.
Multinational companies can lower tax payments by using subsidiaries in countries where corporate tax rates are low, such as Ireland. Some of these companies, such as Google , have come under increasing pressure in Europe, and in France in particular, from governments angry at the way businesses use their presence around to world to minimise tax.
“Airbnb abides by the fiscal laws of the countries in which it operates,” the Californian company said in a statement to Reuters. It also said its “office in France provides marketing services and pays all applicable taxes.”
The group also says that the money it redistributes to apartment owners who rent out their homes is liable for tax. Airbnb began collecting tourist taxes from guests in Paris in 2015 and has since struck similar arrangements with 20 towns in France.
According to Airbnb France’s 2015 last statutory filing, seen by Reuters, the company declared 4.96 million euros in revenue in the country and a profit of 97,205 euros. Le Parisien said it paid 69,168 euros in taxes on that.
A spokeswoman for the French finance ministry declined to comment on Airbnb because of the privacy of such tax matters. Airbnb is currently in talks for a new round of funding that would value it at $30 billion, a source said in June.
