Airbnb will be providing the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) with host earnings data after being legally required to do so, the company said Wednesday.
The home-sharing platform said in a statement that it will give the KRA “a limited amount of data” on host transactions between January 2021 and December 2022, including host identities and payment details.
“KRA has issued an exchange of information request to the Irish Tax Authority (Irish Revenue) seeking certain information on Kenya hosts, and Irish Revenue has formally requested Airbnb to share this information, which we are legally obliged to do,” the statement read.
Airbnb, an Irish company, said that under the data request Irish Revenue will notify each affected Kenyan host that their information is being forwarded to the KRA.
“Your earnings on Airbnb are subject to Kenyan tax regulations. If you need to file a tax return, remember that you have a legal obligation to accurately report your earnings on Airbnb to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA),” the statement said.
The data handover comes amid a push by the KRA to crack down on tax evasion by digital platforms operating in Kenya.
“This data will identify hosts and details of their earnings on Airbnb,” the company said in its statement to hosts.
Airbnb claimed in the statement that it was required to comply with the KRA’s “exchange of information” request. The company said it would limit data sharing only to what was legally mandated.
