LINE 5
Advertising
Costs of getting guests in the door: listing-site promotion or featured placement, professional photography for the listing, a direct-booking website, printed guest guides used for marketing.
Every expense line on IRS Schedule E (Form 1040, lines 5–19), explained for short-term rental hosts — with the STR-specific examples and traps for each one.
How to use this: Schedule E gives you fifteen expense lines per property. Walk the list once per tax year and ask "did I spend anything in this bucket?" — most hosts find at least one category they were about to miss. Amounts must be for the rental activity (prorated if the property is mixed-use).
Costs of getting guests in the door: listing-site promotion or featured placement, professional photography for the listing, a direct-booking website, printed guest guides used for marketing.
Driving to the property for turnovers, repairs, supply runs, or guest issues — either actual expenses or the IRS standard mileage rate. Travel to a remote rental you actively manage can qualify too.
Keep a mileage log. Date, purpose, and miles for each trip — unsubstantiated auto deductions are a classic audit loss.
Turnover cleaning between guests (usually the biggest line for STR hosts), deep cleans, carpet and window cleaning, HVAC servicing, pest control, lawn care and snow removal.
Platform host service fees — what Airbnb or Vrbo keeps from each booking — plus any booking commissions you pay outside the platforms.
The payout trap: your payouts already have these fees deducted. Report gross income and deduct the fees here; reporting payouts as income silently loses this deduction.
Premiums for landlord or short-term-rental policies, liability coverage, and the rental-use share of homeowner's insurance on a mixed-use property.
Tax preparation for the rental portion of your return, CPA or bookkeeper fees for the rental, attorney fees for guest agreements or local-permit issues.
Property-manager or co-host fees, whether a percentage of revenue or a flat rate. Distinct from platform service fees (line 8).
The rental share of mortgage interest on the property, from Form 1098. Interest only — principal payments are never deductible.
Interest on other borrowing for the rental: a HELOC used for the property, a loan for furnishings, or the interest portion of a credit card used for rental expenses.
Fixing what's broken to keep the property in ordinary operating condition: plumbing fixes, appliance repair, patching and repainting a room, replacing a broken lock or window pane.
Repair vs. improvement: a new roof or remodeled kitchen is an improvement — capitalized and depreciated (line 18), not deducted here.
Consumables guests use up: toiletries, paper goods, coffee and pantry staples, cleaning supplies, light bulbs, batteries, and small replacement items like towels.
The rental share of property taxes, plus occupancy or lodging taxes you paid out of pocket and weren't reimbursed for. Taxes the platform collects and remits for you are not your deduction.
Electric, gas, water, trash, internet, and streaming services provided to guests — in full for a dedicated rental, prorated for mixed-use properties.
The building itself (residential rental property depreciates over 27.5 years — land does not depreciate), plus furniture, appliances, and capital improvements. Computed on Form 4562.
Often the largest deduction hosts skip. Depreciation math has real consequences (including recapture at sale) — this is the line most worth professional help.
Legitimate rental expenses that don't fit above, itemized on the form: HOA dues, bank fees on a rental account, bookkeeping or pricing software, guest amenities, smart locks, local permit and license fees.
What this page is not: tax advice, a complete list of every rule and limit, or a substitute for a professional who knows your situation. It's an honest map of the form's expense lines so nothing obvious gets missed.
It depends on the services you provide. Renting a furnished space with standard turnover cleaning between guests is generally passive rental activity reported on Schedule E. Substantial services to guests — daily cleaning during stays, meals, concierge-style hosting — can make it a Schedule C business, changing both the form and whether self-employment tax applies. Confirm the classification with a tax professional before filing.
Yes — on line 8 (Commissions). The trap is that Airbnb payouts already have the host service fee deducted, so reporting payouts as income both understates gross income and loses the matching deduction. Report gross and deduct the fees separately; your transaction-history export has both numbers.
A repair keeps the property in ordinary operating condition (fixing a leak, replacing a part) and is deductible in the year paid on line 14. An improvement adds value or extends useful life (new roof, remodel, new HVAC) and generally must be capitalized and depreciated over years on line 18.
Only partially. Past 14 personal days or 10% of fair-rental days, vacation-home rules under Section 280A cap your deductions, and every expense line must be prorated between rental and personal use. Mixed-use is the most error-prone STR tax scenario — get professional guidance.
Receipts or invoices for each expense, bank and card statements, your platform transaction-history export, a mileage log for line 6, and purchase or closing documents for anything depreciated on line 18. Deductions you can't substantiate can be disallowed.
Roost Ledger tracks your expenses in these exact Schedule E categories, reconciles your Airbnb transaction CSV into real gross income and service fees, and generates a per-property Schedule E worksheet your CPA can work from.
Try it with your CSV See a sample report first