Rented For Fewer Than 15 Days During The Year – When you rent out your home for fewer than 15 days total during the tax year, the rental income is not reportable, and the expenses associated with that rental are not deductible. However, interest and property taxes need not be prorated, and the full amounts of the qualified mortgage interest and property taxes you pay are reported as itemized deductions (as usual) on your Schedule A, if you itemize your deductions.

The 7-Day And 30-Day Rules – Rentals are generally passive activities, meaning that they are not treated as a trade or business and are not subject to self-employment taxes. However, an activity is not treated as a rental if either of these statements applies:

A. The average customer use of the property is for 7 days or fewer—or for 30 days or fewer if the owner (or someone on the owner’s behalf) provides significant personal services, or

B. The owner (or someone on the owner’s behalf) provides extraordinary personal services without regard to the property’s average period of customer use.

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The ease of listing your home, vacation property or a room on Airbnb or similar web platform has turned a lot of individuals into landlords. We hear about these landlords being subject to local taxes such as the transient occupancy tax (hotel tax) and business license tax, but what about state and/or local sales tax?

In some jurisdictions, sales tax applies. So that is one more thing to check. (And don’t forget that one of the first things to check is if the local jurisdiction even allows short-term rentals!)

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