Short-term rental revenue up

Short-term rental hosts declared 33% more revenues to the tax authorities in the first 10 months of last year than they did the year before, official data have shown.

This increase is the result of the better course of tourism and rising demand, the new apartments that have been added to short-term lease platforms and the declaration of incomes from owners who had previously flouted the institutional framework.

According to the data from Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) for January-October 2023, there was a 36% increase in the number of submitted declarations from the same period in 2022, from 1,247,904 to 1,695,957, as well as a 32.8% increase of declared rental takings by 167,404,869 euros, from €510,078,380 to €677,483,249.

However, according to an earlier study by Grant Thornton, which was presented at a conference by the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, tourists’ expenditure on short-term rentals is estimated at €1.38 billion (on an annual basis). This difference is huge compared to the data available from AADE, while it is even greater if compared to AirDNA data, where in 2022 there were 11.5 million overnight stays with an average rate of €193.

It is noted that an updated memorandum of cooperation was signed between AADE and the platforms Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo (Expedia). Changes were agreed, which lead to the qualitative and quantitative upgrading of the data exchanged with the aim of their more effective management by AADE, in order to fully ensure that accommodation owner and managers are identified and can be checked for compliance with the regulations.

Based on the new framework, violators of the legislation will face stiff fines if they fail to submit their details to the Short-Term Rental Property Register. The fine for non-registration is set, per use, at 50% of gross income and a minimum of €5,000 (until 2023 the fine was horizontal and reached up to €5,000). In case of recurrence for the next use, the above fine will be doubled.