The reduction came despite the Irish unit posting a $110.7m profit last year compared to an $18.6m loss in 2023.
Newly-filed accounts for the company’s Irish subsidiary show its overall tax bill tumbled from $93.4m in 2023 to $58.2m last year as the level of expenses that weren’t deductible for tax purposes shrank to $3m from $36.4m a year earlier.
Its total tax liability for 2024 included $31.6m in overseas tax that was paid in the period.
Airbnb Ireland handles all the bookings that are made through the group outside the United States.
Revenue at the Irish unit jumped 15pc to $5.9bn last year, thanks to what the group said was continued strong travel demand.
The Irish arm employed about 390 people as of the end of 2024, and paid a total of $43.5m in wages and salaries, or an average of $111,500 each.
Airbnb Ireland has paid $894m in tax settlements with Italian authorities since 2023.
Since 2017 in Italy, the law requires short-term rental platforms that process payments to collect and remit host income tax and tourist tax, among other obligations.
Airbnb challenged that law before the Italian courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
However, the CJEU ruled that European law does not prohibit member states from passing legislation requiring short-term rental platforms to withhold income taxes from their hosts.
In May 2023, the Guardia di Finanza de Milano (GdF) issued a tax audit report recommending to the Italian tax authorities a formal tax assessment of €779m on Airbnb’s subsidiary in Ireland relating to the 2017 law and associated withholding tax obligations, notes the group in its latest annual report.
The €576m payment made by Airbnb to Italian authorities at the end of that year was made without Airbnb admitting any liability.
The GdF conducted a withholding tax audit of Airbnb Ireland for the 2022 and 2023 tax years and issued a report to the Italian tax authority in March 2024.
Last December, Airbnb Ireland agreed to a €139m settlement in respect of 2022.
In January this year, it agreed a €179m settlement in respect of 2023.
The company previously noted it would not pursue hosts in Italy to recover any of the tax paid on their behalf in respect of the 2017 to 2021 tax years.
However, it had warned that anyone who hosted through the company in Italy during 2022 and 2023 might have a tax liability.
Ireland is among the European countries that have been trying to clamp down on Airbnb lettings in the face of the housing crisis.
Properties rented out on a short-term basis in rent pressure zones – which is currently everywhere in the country – must have planning permission from the local authority or have an exemption from the local authority.
Next May, Ireland is launching the Short-Term Letting Register, to be managed by Fáilte Ireland. Anyone who rents out properties for 21 nights or fewer at a time must register their property.
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