Bookkeeping for Airbnb Hosts
Bookkeeping for Airbnb and Short-Term Rental Hosts
Schedule E rental income. Local occupancy tax. Depreciation on the property.
- AIPB Certified
- QuickBooks ProAdvisor
- Xero Partner
- US-based team
Tell us about the business
Two quick taps and we are off.
Pick a business size and your software to continue.
Quote in your inbox within one business day. No follow-up sequence.
Here's a rule most hosts never hear about until they stumble on it by accident: rent your place out for 14 days or fewer in a calendar year, and that income doesn't have to be reported at all. It's a real IRS provision, sometimes called the Masters exemption because of where it comes up most often, and for a host who only lists during one big local event or a couple of weeks a year, it can mean the difference between a tax headache and a clean, tax-free bit of extra income.
Past that 14-day mark, though, the picture changes completely. Rental income moves onto Schedule E, expenses need to be tracked and allocated correctly, and depreciation on the property itself becomes part of the math. On top of the federal side, a lot of cities and counties require occupancy or lodging tax to be collected and remitted, on top of and separate from any income tax question, and the requirements vary by jurisdiction in ways that catch new hosts off guard constantly.
We work with hosts renting out a spare room a few weekends a month, owners running a dedicated short-term rental full time, and people managing two or three listings across different platforms. Whatever the scale, the same pieces need attention: platform payouts reconciled against what Airbnb or Vrbo actually reports, occupancy tax collected and tracked where your jurisdiction requires it, depreciation handled correctly, and cleaning and turnover costs captured instead of lost in a stack of receipts.
Where airbnb hosts bookkeeping actually helps
- I only rent my place out a couple weeks a year and I don't know if I even need to report that incomeWe check your rental days against the 14-day rule. If you're under it, that income may not need to be reported at all. If you're over it, we get Schedule E tracking set up correctly from the start.
- My city requires occupancy tax and I honestly don't know if I'm collecting or remitting it correctlyWe track your local occupancy and lodging tax requirements and keep the records straight, so what you're collecting from guests and what you owe the city or county actually lines up.
- Airbnb's payout doesn't match what guests actually paid and I don't know where the difference wentPlatform fees, host service charges, and any cleaning fee pass-throughs get tracked separately from your rental income, so the gross booking value and the net deposit both make sense.
- I don't know how to handle depreciation on the property or whether I'm doing it rightDepreciation calculated and tracked against the portion of the property used for short-term rental, kept consistent year over year so your CPA has a clean number to work with.
- I have a regular cleaner between guests and the payments are scattered across cash and VenmoCleaning and turnover costs captured as they happen, regardless of how you pay, so the deduction is real and the recordkeeping holds up.
What's different about airbnb hosts bookkeeping
- Schedule E rental income tracking, separated cleanly from any personal-use portion of the property
- Local occupancy and lodging tax recordkeeping, tracked against your specific city or county requirements
- The 14-day short-term rental rule assessed against your actual rental days
- Depreciation on the rental portion of the property, tracked consistently year to year
- Platform fee and payout reconciliation across Airbnb, Vrbo, and direct bookings
The 14-day rule, and what happens once you cross it
The 14-day rule is one of the more genuinely useful provisions in the tax code for a small host. If you rent your home, or a room in it, for 14 days or fewer during the year, and you also use the property yourself for personal purposes during that year, the rental income can be excluded from your taxable income entirely. No Schedule E, no depreciation recapture to think about later. It applies to the property as a whole, not per platform, so if you list on both Airbnb and Vrbo, the total days across both count toward that 14-day figure.
Cross that threshold and the property moves into full Schedule E treatment. Rental income gets reported, and you can deduct a proportional share of expenses, mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, utilities, cleaning, and depreciation on the building itself, based on how much of the year and how much of the property was actually rented versus used personally. Getting that allocation right matters, because both an overstated deduction and a missed one cause problems down the line.
Separately from all of that, a lot of cities and counties layer on their own occupancy or transient lodging tax, sometimes called hotel tax, collected from the guest at booking and remitted to the local government. Some platforms collect and remit this automatically for certain jurisdictions. Many don't, and it falls on the host. We track what your specific jurisdiction requires and keep the collection and remittance records straight so it doesn't turn into a surprise later.
What's included
- Schedule E income and expense tracking
- 14-day rule assessment against your actual rental calendar
- Local occupancy and lodging tax recordkeeping
- Platform payout reconciliation, Airbnb, Vrbo, and direct bookings
- Depreciation tracking on the rental portion of the property
- Cleaning, turnover, and amenity expense capture
- Monthly income and expense summary
- Year-end handover to your CPA or EA, tax-ready
Why airbnb and short-term rental hosts pick us
We know short-term rental income
Airbnb, Vrbo, direct bookings, the payout structures and platform quirks are familiar. We run host files across the country.
The 14-day rule, checked properly
If your rental days qualify, that income might not need to be reported at all. We check it against your calendar, not a guess.
Occupancy tax tracked by jurisdiction
Local lodging and occupancy tax requirements vary block by block sometimes. We track what applies to your specific listing.
Depreciation handled consistently
The rental portion of the property gets depreciated correctly and tracked the same way year over year, so your CPA has clean numbers at tax time.
Personal use days accounted for
If you also stay at the property yourself, expenses get allocated between rental and personal use accurately, not estimated.
Cleaning and turnover costs captured
Every turnover cost, cash, card, or Venmo, gets logged so the deduction is real and the trail is clean.
Get your rental income tracked the way the IRS actually expects
Tell us how many properties you host and roughly how many nights a year you rent. Quote in writing the same business day.
Host setups we see regularly
Renting a spare room or the whole place a few weeks a year
Host who rents out during a local event, a few weekends, or a vacation window, likely under or close to the 14-day threshold. Wants a clear answer on whether the income even needs reporting.
What changes
- 14-day rule checked against the actual calendar
- Clarity on what needs to be reported
- Simple, light-touch recordkeeping
- No surprises if rental days creep up
How short-term rental hosts typically handle the books
Spreadsheet or nothing Occasional host | Platform dashboard only Net income only | Outsourced (us) Schedule E ready | |
|---|---|---|---|
14-day rule checked | No | No | Yes |
Occupancy tax tracked | No | Partial | Yes |
Platform fees separated from income | No | No | Yes |
Depreciation tracked consistently | No | No | Yes |
Personal-use allocation accurate | No | No | Yes |
Reviewed by an AIPB-certified bookkeeper | No | No | Yes |
How we price airbnb hosts bookkeeping
Pricing for short-term rental bookkeeping depends on how many properties you manage, how many platforms each listing runs on, and whether depreciation and occupancy tax tracking are already set up correctly or need to be built from scratch.
Fill out the quote form with your property count and rough booking volume, and you will get a written quote within one business day. Occasional hosts near the 14-day threshold typically land in our lightest tier.
Airbnb Hosts bookkeeping FAQ
Two things to remember
Every account is reconciled and kept tax-ready by an AIPB-certified bookkeeper. Every account is run inside the US. Those two anchors shape how we handle compliance for airbnb and short-term rental hosts specifically.
Hosting handled, books too.
Tell us about your listing and your booking pattern. We will quote your retainer the same day.