The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requires platforms like Vrbo/Stayz to collect and report data from accommodation suppliers who earn income through our websites. These data sharing requirements are captured under the Australian Sharing Economy Reporting Regime (SERR). 

All suppliers in the scope of the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime must share the required information with Expedia Group (EG) so that the data can be provided to the ATO. This includes data for all lodging partners for Tranche 1 of the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime. 

As a supplier, Tranche 1 of the SERR applies to you if you list property in Australia, regardless of your country of residence.  

The ATO may use this data to pre-populate your tax returns, support tax audits, and assess Income Tax, Goods and Services Tax (GST), or other taxes to increase tax compliance and prevent the risk of tax fraud. 

Data collection 

Your obligations 

You will receive emails asking you to add the required information in Vrbo/Stayz for all your listed properties in Australia. 

Important: 

  • If your listing is no longer available for bookings, you still need to provide the information in case you make the listing available again.  
  • If you have multiple listings in Australia, you must provide information for each property.  
  • If you have the same property listed on Expedia and Vrbo/Stayz, you need to add the information in both Partner Central and Vrbo/Stayz.  
  • If you are not the property owner but manage properties through an Expedia Group account on behalf of the property owner, you need to provide your information and the information for each property. 

Tax Authorities may contact you if they have questions about the information provided. 

Expedia obligations 

We will provide the ATO with the information available in our systems if you rented out a property or earned income from any of the other activities on our platforms during the reportable period. For example, if you accept one booking for August 2023 and deactivate your account afterwards, the platform will report in 2024 your reportable 2023 income up until the point of deactivation. 

When we share this information, we will account for any cancellations and/or refunds that are recorded in our system. 

If your information is incorrect or outdated, go into your dashboard and update your property’s information. 

Information shared 

The ATO requires platform operators such as Expedia Group to disclose the supplier taxpayer details described in this section. 

Important: Expedia Group will share the required data about Integrated Property Managers (IPM) contracted on the Expedia platform, but not about Vrbo/Stayz IPMs. Vrbo/Stayz doesn’t handle the transactional IPM data, therefore IPM Vrbo/Stayz suppliers will be requested to comply and to share their own transactional data with the ATO. 

The following information is shared for individuals and legal entities:     

  • Full primary address of the supplier 
  • Australia Business Number (ABN), where applicable  
  • Supplier contact phone number 
  • Supplier email address 
  • Gross income for the relevant reporting period (GST inclusive and in AUD): The total amount of payments to the supplier for the reporting period, including GST, fees, and commissions will be shared 
  • Number of bookings made for each property (excluding bookings that were cancelled and no payment made) 
  • Property information, including property address and number of nights booked during the reporting period 
  • One of the following sets of bank or online payment service account details:    
    • Domestic Bank Account Name, Bank State Branch (BSB), and Bank Account Number 
    • International Bank Account Name, Bank Identifier (unique number that identifies the international financial institution, such as a SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) code), and Account Identifier (unique identifier assigned by international financial institution for each account held by customer, such as an international back account number (IBAN))  
    • Online Account Name (name of the online payment service provider) and Identifier (name of individual or entity on an online account held by an online payment service provider) 
IndividualLegal entity
  • First and last name
  • Date of birth
  • Legal name
  • Registered Business Name
  • Tax Identification Number (TIN), if ABN isn't available
  • Issuing country of TIN

For information on how to get an Australian Business Number (ABN), refer to Registration obligations for businesses.  

If you have an ABN, you do not need to provide a TIN. 

If you are an entity and do not have an ABN, provide the TIN of your resident country. Most countries issue a TIN to their residents or citizens and companies. The TIN can differ per country. You can find the TIN, for example, on income tax forms, ID cards, or letters from the Tax Authorities. 

Note: The Australian data sharing requirements do not address your tax filing obligations. Even if you are already sharing some of the requested data with the ATO and/or your local tax authorities, you still need to provide the data to Expedia Group. Tax obligations depend on each taxpayer’s circumstances. We recommend contacting a tax advisor for questions related to your tax obligations. 

Data reporting  

Timelines 

Expedia Group is required to share data twice a year: 

  • For transactions from July 1 to December 31, the report to the ATO must be submitted by January 31 of the following year. 
  • For transactions from January 1 to June 30, the report to the ATO must be submitted by July 31. 

Note: Expedia Group’s first report to the ATO will begin in July 2024. No report will be sent in January 2024. 

Information reported 

If you do not provide the requested information, we may implement measures as required by the ATO, which may include suspending your listing. General tax penalties also apply. We expect more guidance to be issued about penalties for breaches of the SERR at a later stage. 

Data protection and privacy 

The SERR in Australia places a legal obligation on Expedia Group to share supplier data with the ATO for the purpose of this data sharing. Following applicable data protection laws, our lawful basis for collecting and sharing your personal information is that such data processing is necessary for Expedia Group to meet its legal obligations in Australia. 

Expedia Group will retain your data for as long as it may be necessary to fulfill the purposes of complying with SERR and any other applicable laws. 

Per data protection laws, you have the following rights regarding your data processed in the context of the ATO’s SERR: 

  • You can access, amend, delete, or update the accuracy of your data at any time. Follow the instructions in Add required Australian tax information to your property.
    • Note: The deletion of your account may not necessarily delete your data, as we may still be required to retain it for other legal purposes and share it with the ATO in accordance with the SERR. 
  • You can request a copy of your data or account deletion by contacting Vrbo/Stayz Customer Support or your Account Manager. Review the Contact Us section in our Privacy Statement. 

For more information on how and why Expedia Group processes your other personal information and how to exercise any other data protection rights outside the ATO SERR, read our Privacy Statement. 

If you have any questions or concerns, contact Vrbo/Stayz Customer Support.