Hungarians generated six billion forints of revenue from homestays organised by online peer-to-peer network Airbnb in 2015, data from the tax office in Ireland, where Airbnb is registered, show.

This is far more than the turnover indicated by tax returns submitted to Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV), the chairman of NAV told news agency MTI. Tax data from Ireland requested by NAV show Hungarian homeowners contracted with Airbnb used the service on 120,000 occasions, András Tállai said. Almost 4,500 Hungarians use the service for homestays at their properties, he added. NAV’s staff has been instructed “to offer support to Hungarian Airbnb hosts on correcting their tax returns rather than immediately applying sanctions”, he said.

Previously the Hungarian Hotel Association (MSZSZ) also complained about Airbnb, citing a report that shows the capacity of private home sharing in Budapest rose 100 percent between 2010 and 2015. According to the survey, there are more than 9 thousand offers currently in Budapest on Airbnb, and in 2015 about 2,2 million guest preferred this type of service to traditional accommodations in the Hungarian capital.

via hungarymatters.hu and MTI