Belgian tax authority seeks to obtain Airbnb user data

Belgium's finance ministry says it is negotiating with Airbnb in the hope of reaching an agreement to share personal data about landlords who make money from the property rental platform.

"We are at the very beginning of our discussions, but we hope to reach an agreement," a spokesman for FPS Finance said, after news of the talks emerged in L'Echo and De Tijd newspapers.

According to the papers, Belgian tax authorities plan to carry out systematic spot-checks on Airbnb hosts to check they are declaring and paying income tax on their earnings. Hosts who do not fulfil their tax obligations face fines ranging from €50 to €1,250 and a penalty tax rate on the undeclared earnings ranging from 10% to 200%.

Until now, the taxman has had to use its own investigative powers to track down Airbnb landlords. "If we can obtain the information directly from the platform, it would be much more effective," the finance ministry spokesman added.

Any formal agreement with Airbnb - setting out the terms under which it would be required to share data - is reportedly a long way off.

An Airbnb spokesman said: "The sharing of user data on users can only take place after a valid legal request, in accordance with the law on privacy and data protection.

"We take legal procedures seriously and react accordingly. There is no agreement with the FPS Finance regarding the sharing of personal data."