Hundreds of thousands of Airbnb owners will be hit by John Healey's Budget tax raid on landlords, piling yet more pressure on Britain's tourism industry.
Treasury sources confirmed that short-term holiday lets will be hit by the 4pc additional tax on property income, as well as landlords renting out houses and flats for tenants to live in.
The surprise raid on the rental sector was one of a series of Budget tax grabs announced by the Chancellor on Wednesday, which will be used to fund headline giveaways such as the £100 energy bills handout to households.
Basic-rate income taxpayers will see the tax rate on property income rise from 20pc to 24pc from next April. Those in higher tax bands will see the rates on rental income rise to 44pc and 49pc.
Rachel Reeves had already signalled a 2p increase in her Budget last November , but Mr Healey went further in his Commons statement on Wednesday.
Industry leaders said the extra tax would be another significant blow for a sector still reeling from the prospect of a "holiday tax" on overnight stays from 2028.
Alistair Handyside, of the Professional Association of Self-Caterers, said: "It is incredibly unhelpful at a time when tourism is under so much pressure; it's yet another payment to find.
"A lot of people are going to say, 'I've done the maths, it's just not worth it any more.' It's not any individual straw that breaks people; it's the cumulative impact.
"All the costs are going up and now the Government is taking more, and of course we're not able to put up prices, so everyone's margin decreases again. They can't keep doing that; it just doesn't work."
OBR estimates suggest the new higher rates of property income tax will raise around £1bn in the 2028‐29 tax year before settling at around £800m in later years.
Pavan Mandir, at advisers UK Landlord Tax, said an Airbnb owner in the higher-rate tax band making a typical £24,000 profit will see their tax bill rise by £960 from £9,600 to £10,560.
An estimated 450,000 Airbnb properties in Britain are available for short-term lets.
Alongside rival online platforms such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia-owned Vrbo hosted more than 100 million stays last year.
Many are owned by businesses or do not yet earn enough to pay income tax, leaving around 130,000 individuals declaring a total of £2.5bn in profits from holiday lets last year, according to HMRC.
Short-term holiday lets had not been classified as property businesses until April last year when a more generous tax treatment under the furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished.
Mr Mandir said: "Since the furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished from April 6 2025, holiday lets and Airbnb-style lets have formed part of your ordinary property business.
"That means there is no separate treatment for short-term lets."
Airbnb declined to comment.
