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The French government had asked tax authorities to look into the
system, suspected of facilitating tax avoidance, after it was
revealed that Airbnb was allowing its hosts to use the prepaid
Payoneer card.
The card allows homeowners to receive payments for their rentals
without money transiting through bank accounts.
The decision comes as Airbnb, similar to its taxi-hailing peer
Uber, is facing a growing crackdown from legislators worldwide -
triggered in part by lobbying from the hotel industry, which
sees the rental service as providing unfair competition.
Airbnb said in a statement that all the payment tools made
available to its hosts, including the Payoneer card, were "legal
and had all the necessary authorizations to operate in France".
It said that fewer than 1 percent of hosts in France used the
system but had nevertheless decided to withdraw the card in the
country "to respond to concerns tied to possible debit card
abuse".
"This responsible decision allows to avoid all opportunity for
open fraud through the use of this payment tool," the French
Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Airbnb also came under pressure on Monday after the Paris city
council put several flat-sharing and rental sites including
Airbnb on formal notice, demanding the platforms take down
listings lacking official registration numbers.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon,; Editing by Geert De Clercq and
Ed Osmond)
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