Special report: GST on accommodation and transportation services supplied through online marketplaces

In March 2023, legislation containing rules for the platform economy was passed into law. Additional changes have been made to those rules to ensure the rules are workable and consistent with the policy intent. These further changes confirm and clarify the rules as well as introduce:

• rules to address circumstances when a person, referred to as a “listing intermediary”, is interposed between an underlying supplier of taxable accommodation and the operator of an electronic marketplace
• adjustment rules for the flat-rate credit that will enable marketplace operators and listing intermediaries to self-correct errors related to the calculation of the flat-rate credit
• a transitional rule to ensure that marketplace operators and listing intermediaries do not have to account for GST on contracts for taxable accommodation entered into before 1 April 2024, and
• a range of other minor measures.

These new measures passed into law in March 2024. This special report covers these changes, and replaces the earlier special report published in June 2023.

This special report was amended on 15 April 2024 to correct a mathematical error in example 30.