---
title: "Short-term rental bookkeeping | Ledgerbrook"
source: https://ledgerbrook.com/industries/short-term-rentals/
description: "Short-term rental bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online for Airbnb and Vrbo hosts: payouts, fees, occupancy tax, repairs, classes."
---

[Industries](/industries/)

# Short-term rental bookkeeping

## What does bookkeeping for an Airbnb host include?

Short-term rental bookkeeping keeps 1 class per property, records Airbnb and Vrbo payouts at gross with host and cleaning fees split out, tracks occupancy tax the platform collected separately from tax the host files, and separates repairs from improvements that are depreciated. Each property's profit and loss is then ready for the tax preparer at year end.

Common for short-term rental hosts

- Every Airbnb payout went in as one deposit to Rental Income, so the 1099-K is higher than the books by every service fee
- Two properties share one bank account and one card, and nobody can say which one made money
- Occupancy tax Vrbo sent with the payouts was counted as income, and the city's quarterly return is overdue
- A new roof, a hot tub and a $90 faucet repair all sit in Repairs & Maintenance
- The owner stayed at the lake house for three weeks in July and there is no record of which days were personal

In detail

## Why an Airbnb payout is not your rental income

Short-term rental bookkeeping begins with the payout report, not the bank deposit. Airbnb describes a host’s payout as “your nightly price, cleaning fee, and any other fees you’re collecting for new bookings, minus the host service fee” ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2524)). So the deposit is already short by the fee, and occupancy tax that Airbnb remits for you never reaches the account at all. Book deposits as income and the books understate rent, hide every fee, and will not tie to the 1099-K, which Airbnb reports “before the deduction of Airbnb fees/commissions” ([Airbnb tax documents](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/414)).

This page is for the host with one to a few furnished properties booked by the night. A landlord with year-long leases, or a manager holding owners’ money in trust, keeps different books, covered in [property management bookkeeping](/blog/property-management-bookkeeping/).

## An Airbnb payout grossed up, worked

Airbnb moved hosts to a single service fee in 2026: 15.5% for most hosts, taken from the nightly price and fees like cleaning, with no separate guest fee ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/simplifying-service-fees-on-airbnb-771), read October 24, 2026). It applies only to reservations made after a host switched, so stays booked earlier still carry the old split fee, which for most hosts was 3%. Your rate is on each reservation in the earnings dashboard; take it from there.

A guest books the lake cabin for four nights, checking in Friday, October 9, at $180.00 a night with a $120.00 cleaning fee:

| Reservation, check-in October 9 | Amount |
| --- | --- |
| 4 nights at $180.00 | 720.00 |
| Cleaning fee | 120.00 |
| Host service fee, 15.5% of $840.00 | −130.20 |
| **Payout** | **709.80** |

The guest also paid occupancy tax. Where Airbnb collects and remits it, it goes to the tax authority and is not in the $709.80, so it has no place in the host’s books. Airbnb typically releases a payout within 1 business day after check-in ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-youll-get-paid-for-hosting-20)), and a US direct deposit takes 3 business days to arrive ([Airbnb payouts](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/425)).

The entries, tagged to the property’s class:

| Date | Account | Debit | Credit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Oct 9 | Airbnb Clearing | 840.00 | |
| Oct 9 | Rental Income | | 720.00 |
| Oct 9 | Cleaning Fee Income | | 120.00 |
| Oct 9 | Booking Platform Fees | 130.20 | |
| Oct 9 | Airbnb Clearing | | 130.20 |
| Oct 15 | Business Checking | 709.80 | |
| Oct 15 | Airbnb Clearing | | 709.80 |

`Airbnb Clearing` is an Other Current Assets account that empties when each payout lands, the same method used for card processors in [payment apps in QuickBooks](/blog/payment-apps-in-quickbooks-online/). A host with a few stays a month can enter each reservation; a busier one can post one entry a month from the earnings CSV, with a line per property. Either way, the clearing account’s balance on the last day of the month should equal the payouts Airbnb has released but the bank has not received yet.

Income belongs to the stay, not the booking. Airbnb holds the guest’s money until check-in, so a reservation booked in June for an August stay is August income, and a host using Airbnb’s payments never carries a deferred revenue balance for it.

Vrbo works the same way with different fees. Under its pay-per-booking model, Vrbo charges a 12% commission on the rent and any fees charged to the traveler, such as cleaning, and not on taxes or refundable deposits; when Vrbo processes the payment, there is no separate processing fee ([Vrbo](https://help.vrbo.com/articles/How-is-the-booking-fee-calculated), read October 24, 2026). Give Vrbo its own `Vrbo Clearing` account.

## Occupancy tax, by who collects it

Occupancy tax (also called lodging, transient occupancy or hotel tax) is charged to the guest, and someone has to file it. Platforms collect it in some places and not others, and sometimes collect it only to hand it to the host. The books depend on which:

| How the tax is handled | Where you see it | Is it in the payout? | What the books do |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| The platform collects and remits | Airbnb in its listed jurisdictions ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2509)); Vrbo where it is liable | No | Nothing to record. Keep the platform’s tax report with the year’s records |
| The platform collects and sends it to you | Vrbo’s “Collect my taxes and send them to me” option; Airbnb pass-through taxes | Yes | Credit `Occupancy Tax Payable`; debit it when you file and pay |
| You collect it yourself | Direct bookings, or a jurisdiction the platform does not cover | Yes | Same liability, from your own booking records |
| The platform remits some taxes, you owe others | A state or county tax the platform remits plus a city tax it does not | Partly | A liability only for your share |

Vrbo’s wording on the second row is plain: taxes “are sent to your bank account with your regular booking payout,” and “You’re responsible for filing and paying those taxes to your local tax authority” ([Vrbo](https://help.vrbo.com/articles/How-can-I-manage-my-lodging-taxes)). Vrbo also says owners remain responsible where it is not liable, including bookings taken before it began collecting in an area and bookings not made through its own system ([Vrbo](https://help.vrbo.com/articles/What-Stay-Taxes-Lodging-Taxes-does-HomeAway-collect-and-remit)). Tax that reaches the bank is not income; booked to Rental Income, it overstates the year and leaves nothing showing that a return is due.

Many cities also require a short-term rental permit or registration even where the platform remits the tax. Those fees are an expense; the rules are local, so check the city and county where each property sits.

Refundable damage deposits on direct bookings are a liability too, not income, until they are kept or returned. The entries are in [security deposit accounting](/blog/security-deposit-accounting/).

## One class per property

A host with two cabins needs two profit and loss statements, one per property, because the tax return reports each property separately and because the owner needs to know which one is worth keeping. In QuickBooks Online that is a class per property: turn on **Track classes** under **Settings**, then **Account and settings**, then **Advanced**, then **Categories**, available on the Plus and Advanced plans. Tag every payout line, cleaning bill, supply run and utility bill to its property, and run **Profit and Loss by Class** each month.

Costs that cover all properties, such as a booking software subscription or a pricing tool, go to a shared class and are split at year end. One business checking account and one card can serve all the properties when classes are kept; a separate account per property is cleaner but not required. A property held in its own LLC is different: an LLC with more than one member files its own return and needs its own books, while a single-member LLC is often disregarded for tax and can sit in the owner’s file. That is a question for the tax preparer or attorney.

## Rental expenses as records

The question searchers ask is which Airbnb expenses are deductible. That is the tax preparer’s call. The bookkeeping question is narrower and decides whether the preparer can use the books at all: does every expense have the record behind it, sitting in an account the preparer can read?

| Expense | The record it needs | QuickBooks account |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Platform fees | The payout report for each reservation | Booking Platform Fees |
| Cleaning and turnover | The cleaner’s invoice or payment per stay, and a W-9 | Cleaning & Turnover |
| Guest supplies | Receipts, with personal household shopping split off | Guest Supplies |
| Utilities and internet | Each month’s bill | Utilities |
| Repairs | An invoice that says what was fixed | Repairs & Maintenance |
| Furnishings and small appliances | An invoice per item, with the date it went into the unit | Furnishings |
| Improvements | Invoices and the date the work was finished | Building Improvements |
| Mortgage interest | Form 1098, which reports interest in box 1; the lender’s year-end statement for the balance | Mortgage Interest |
| Property tax | The county bill and proof of payment | Property Taxes |
| Insurance | The policy declarations page | Insurance |
| Co-host or management fees | The manager’s statement or the co-host payout report | Property Management Fees |
| Permits and registration | The city or county receipt | Licenses & Permits |
| Mileage | A log with the date, miles and purpose of each trip | Vehicle Expenses |

Two lines in that table cause most of the cleanup work:

- **Repairs versus improvements.** Pub 527 says an expense for “repairing or maintaining your rental property may be deducted,” but “You must capitalize any expense you pay to improve your rental property” ([IRS Pub 527](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p527), for 2025 returns). The $90 faucet is a repair. The roof and the hot tub are improvements, recorded as fixed assets and depreciated over the period the preparer assigns. The de minimis safe harbor lets a taxpayer without an applicable financial statement deduct items up to $2,500 per invoice or item, but only with an election statement attached to a timely filed return, and only if it is applied to every amount that qualifies that year ([IRS tangible property regulations](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/tangible-property-final-regulations)). The books keep the invoices either way so the preparer can decide.
- **Cleaners paid as contractors.** A cleaner paid $2,000 or more during 2026, by check or bank transfer, gets a 1099-NEC by February 1, 2027; that threshold was $600 for payments made before 2026. Payments by card or a payment app are reported by the processor on a 1099-K instead ([IRS instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099mec)). The full routine is in [when to send a 1099](/blog/when-to-send-a-1099/).

### Personal days need a log

When the owner also stays at the property, the IRS treats it as a residence if personal use is more than the greater of 14 days or 10% of the days it was rented at a fair price, and expenses are divided between rental and personal use by days ([IRS Topic 415](https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc415)). The books cannot make that split without a calendar. Keep one per property: every night rented, every night used personally, every night vacant. The same calendar answers the 14-day rule: a home rented for fewer than 15 days in the year is not reported as a rental at all.

## Schedule E or Schedule C, and the “loophole”

Rental income usually goes on Schedule E, but Pub 527 sends it to Schedule C when the owner provides substantial services primarily for the guest’s convenience, such as regular cleaning. Which one fits a given property is for the tax preparer, and the books should not take a position.

The “short-term rental loophole” that comes up in so many searches turns on another rule. For an individual owner, an activity where the average guest stays 7 days or less is not a rental activity under the passive activity rules (Treas. Reg. §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A)), so whether its losses can offset other income depends on the owner’s material participation instead. That is a tax position, not a bookkeeping one. What the books can do is keep the evidence it needs: the number of stays and nights per property, from which the average stay is one division, and the owner’s own log of hours worked on each property.

## The monthly close for a host

1. **Import each platform’s earnings report** and record every reservation or the month’s summary at gross, by property.
2. **Clear each platform account** to the payouts in the bank, and check what is left against the platform’s released-but-not-paid figure.
3. **Move occupancy tax** the platform sent you into `Occupancy Tax Payable`, and note the filing date for each jurisdiction.
4. **Categorize every bank and card line** to an account and a property class; personal charges go to owner draws.
5. **Split repairs from improvements** while the invoice is still at hand.
6. **Reconcile** checking, savings and every card to the statements.
7. **Update the stay calendar**, including personal and vacant nights.

### Can I use QuickBooks for a rental property?

Yes. QuickBooks Online Plus handles class tracking per property, clearing accounts per platform, fixed assets and 1099 vendors, and most tax preparers can work in it. It is not property management software: it does not run the booking calendar, guest messages or dynamic pricing, so those stay in the platform or a channel manager.

### What is the best accounting software for short-term rentals?

The rental-specific apps that rank for this question, such as REI Hub, Stessa and Baselane, sync payouts and produce reports for Schedule E. Any of them, or QuickBooks Online, works if it can record a payout at gross, keep each property separate, hold occupancy tax as a liability and attach a receipt to each expense. A host whose preparer already uses QuickBooks usually saves a year-end conversion by keeping the books there.

### Do I have to pay taxes on Airbnb income?

Generally yes, unless the 14-day rule above applies. A 1099-K arrives when gross payments pass more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions in the year, or a lower state threshold, but income below that is still income ([Airbnb](https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/414)). How the form ties to the books is in [why your 1099-K doesn’t match your books](/blog/1099-k-and-your-books/).

## How much does short-term rental bookkeeping cost?

A host a year behind usually needs every earnings report downloaded, each payout grossed up by property, occupancy tax separated from income, and a year of repairs and improvements sorted. That is a [cleanup](/quickbooks-cleanup/) engagement, scoped to the number of months affected.

$99per month of backlog20% off 6+ months

After that, a [monthly close](/monthly-bookkeeping/) records each platform at gross by property, keeps occupancy tax as a liability, reconciles every account and closes by the 5th business day. That is $99 a month (up to 3 accounts, up to 200 transactions a month), and $199 past either limit. Hosts can read how an engagement starts on the [outsourced bookkeeping page](/for-business-owners/). Other trades are on the [industries page](/industries/), and full pricing is on the [pricing page](/pricing/).

Or [send your file for a free review](/contact/?from=industries%2Fshort-term-rentals), with a written answer within 48 hours.

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