Most hosts know the mortgage interest and the cleaning fee are deductible. It's the other dozen-plus write-offs — the small, recurring, easy-to-forget ones — that quietly add up to real money every year. Miss them and you're paying tax on income you actually spent running the business.
Here are 17 deductions small short-term rental owners routinely leave on the table. (Keep your own records for each — see our note on separating your accounts — because a deduction you can't substantiate is one you can't take.)
The 17
- Host & platform service fees — the commission Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com takes out of every payout. Your gross income includes it; you deduct it right back.
- Cleaning & turnover — cleaners between stays, plus cleaning supplies you buy yourself.
- Laundry & linens — sheets, towels, laundry service, the washer detergent.
- Guest consumables — toiletries, coffee, snacks, paper goods, welcome-basket items.
- Repairs & maintenance — fixing what breaks: plumbing, a broken lock, touch-up paint, appliance service.
- Utilities — electricity, gas, water, sewer, and trash for the rental.
- Internet, cable & streaming — the wifi and the Netflix login your guests expect.
- Insurance — your short-term-rental or landlord policy premiums.
- Mortgage interest — the rental-use portion of your loan interest.
- Property taxes — the rental-use portion.
- HOA & condo dues — association fees tied to the rental property.
- Depreciation — you deduct the cost of the building itself over time. This is the single biggest deduction most hosts under-use.
- Furniture, appliances & décor — beds, sofas, the coffee maker, artwork. Often deductible in the first year through the de minimis safe harbor or Section 179, rather than depreciated slowly.
- Vehicle mileage — trips to the property for supply runs, check-ins, maintenance, and management, tracked at the IRS standard mileage rate (see Publication 463).
- Software & tools — dynamic-pricing tools, channel/PMS software, and your bookkeeping subscription.
- Professional fees — your accountant, bookkeeper, or attorney.
- Licenses, permits & lodging-tax registration — the fees to register and stay compliant locally.
A few honorable mentions: advertising (listing photography, boosted listings, a direct-booking site), bank and payment-processing fees, and education directly related to running your rental.
Two rules that trip people up
Repairs vs. improvements. Fixing something is a repair you deduct now. Upgrading something — a new roof, a kitchen remodel, an addition — is an improvement you capitalize and depreciate over years. Calling an improvement a repair is a common error.
Personal use means you prorate. If you also stay at the property yourself, you can only deduct the business-use portion of shared expenses. A place that's 90% rented and 10% personal-use gets 90% of its utilities, not 100%.
Why this list is worth keeping
Add up numbers 2, 4, 13, and 14 alone over a year and you're often looking at thousands of dollars. None of them are exotic — they're just easy to forget when you're not tracking as you go. Capture them through the year and they're automatic; try to remember them in April and half of them vanish.
This is general education, not tax advice. Eligibility, depreciation rules, and safe-harbor elections depend on your specific situation — confirm the details with a qualified tax professional before you file.