Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Vacation Rental Welcome Book Tips

A welcome book is a guide that provides information about the local area and other aspects of your vacation home. For incoming guests, having these details in a consolidated location can be extremely helpful. When compiling your welcome book, here are some suggestions for what to include:
  • Important Information
    • Emergency Contact Information
    • WiFi Network and Password
    • Beach/Park Passes
    • Garbage Collection Schedules
    • Check Out Information
  • Home equipment guides
    • Appliances
    • TVs, DVD Players, Speakers
  • Household supplies location
    • Toilet paper/Paper Towels
    • Linens
    • Food preparation equipment
  • Local Information
    • Restaurants
    • Grocery Stores
    • Local Attractions
  • Transportation
    • Bus routes
    • Shuttles
    • Train stations
    • Taxis
    • Bike rentals
    • Airports

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Denver Business Journal Article on HotSpot


HotSpot Tax Services dominating vacation-rental tax-compliance niche  
Denver Business Journal, Ed Sealover  September 30, 2014

The number of people who prefer to stay in rental homes over hotels on vacations is rising, but the number of companies that work with second-home owners on their tax issues is not — and that's a good thing for HotSpot Tax Services of Centennial.  

Now 12 years old, HotSpot is believed by industry leaders to be the only company in the U.S. to specialize in offering a web-based software program that aids owners of vacation-rental property in being tax-compliant with local, state and federal laws. 

Read entire article

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

HomeAway Summit in Fort Lauderdale, FL

HotSpot was one of the sponsors of the HomeAway Summit in Fort Lauderdale this last weekend.  As always, it was a great opportunity to personally meet many property owners & managers, and other participants in the industry.  And it's always cool to interact with so many of our customers in person.

Key Takeaways
-Newbies to seasoned pros all find sales & occupancy tax requirements confusing
-Collecting the tax is easy. Registering & paying the tax is daunting

Shared War Stories
One owner we spoke with was told by a leading management company in her area that no tax was due since she was doing rent-by-owner.  After our discussion she followed up and spoke to the the company.  She learned the company is now under audit and has been giving incorrect advice about the taxes.  

Several owners with properties in Florida said they have been collecting the tax but are unsure how to register and where to pay it, an easy problem for us to solve.  Similarly, several other owners told us they thought the tax could be paid at year end, as part of their income tax filings.  Unfortunately, this is not correct either.

Another management company we met, with numerous properties in Florida, is using an accountant for the sales & tourist taxes and was filing for each property versus using umbrella accounts.  As a result they were paying their accountant significant amounts each month to do a large number of tax filings.  We will be able to streamline their processes and save them lots of money.   

We had many more of these interactions and hope we were able to help people, make the process less confusing and keep them out of tax trouble.  

Up Next
Next up is the San Diego conference in a few weeks.  Bring your war story!  We look forward to meeting more people and answering any questions about tax issues.