Invoicing guests for HA Booking

For topics that are specific to Portugal, please go here.
Sam V
Posts: 1707
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:45 pm
Location: Villa in Gale, Algarve, Portugal. At home in Fetcham, Surrey, UK
Contact:

Invoicing guests for HA Booking

Post by Sam V »

I've not been in this situation before. Due to the pandemic I lost all my UK bookings for my villa but have been able to secure a few from EU guests via HA/AirBNB.

I have a Portuguese guest arriving on 6 September, he booked/paid via HomeAway and has asked me to invoice him with his VAT number. I have never been asked to supply an invoice, other than for the rare cancellation/insurance claim, in which case I referred them to their booking form produced by PIMS, which I use, which basically has all payment info, etc. or via Wave for payment of extra items, etc., which I cant do as there is no physical payment due.


I thought that as this guest's payments are all handled by HA and I don't receive anything from HA until the guest arrives or later, that he should get an invoice from them, but HA say that he can only get an invoice for the fees he has been charged by them and I should invoice him the payout amount I get from them as they are purely acting as the payment facilitator.

Then, if I do invoice him for the payout amount, would that be for the gross balance due to me from HA, before their fees/commission, or the net amount I actually receive? .... then I have to figure out how I format an invoice.

I hope I can get a clear answer asap as he is getting quite demanding for this invoice!
TA lurkers walk among us; the LMH Walking Dead

dont mess in the affairs of cats for they are subtle and will p on your computer.

www.algarvevillatrinity.co.uk
www.facebook.com/villatrinity
www.gardenerscottage.promotemyplace.com
Tom Hart
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:21 am
Location: Central Portugal
Contact:

Post by Tom Hart »

I suspect you are opening a can of worms here. If you are earning income in Portugal, I believe you should be declaring this to the tax authority. Equally you should be raising invoices for all guests, and if Portuguese including their tax reference number.
e-richard
Posts: 5008
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 11:33 am
Location: Algarve, Portugal
Contact:

Post by e-richard »

Toms right, but if, like me, you have a local accountant, they are probably already doing all that for you. But "raising" an invoice for tax purposes is not necessarily the same as "sending it" to the guest. Most of my guests being British wouldn't know what to do with it.

To answer your other question, I would only invoice the guest for the amount that you receive before your commission charges from VRBO are deducted. All other amounts that are added and kept by VRBO belong to the category of charges from VRBO to the guest and none of your business.
(I'm sure VRBO will try and dispute this addon, but they would be wrong and the bonus is that its our way of ramming home to the guests why they should #bookdirect in future)

Also, remember, this is Portugal and you probably need to send the invoice in triplicate on A4 paper with the guest's full name, address and Fiscal number.

But, in reality, if you just send a message by email neatly laid out with their fiscal number, full name and the amount in Euros, I'm sure nobody will really care about the format too much.

Oh, and assuming you are not registered for IVA, you probably may need to have to tell them separately cos I'll bet they will be asking for your VAT (IVA) number...

As Tom, says - a can of worms - I think its nearer a barrel than a can !!!
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
AndrewH
Posts: 1499
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:17 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by AndrewH »

e-richard wrote: But "raising" an invoice for tax purposes is not necessarily the same as "sending it" to the guest. Most of my guests being British wouldn't know what to do with it.
Too right :D
Post Reply