AirBnB - Tax & Expenses

twiga

** I've read 10+ other AirBnB posts on here but couldn't find the info I needed, so apologies if this exists elsewhere. **

There are many posts on here going back and forth about if hosts can claim expenses. Some people swear you cannot (it is just income on top of your normal income), while others say that it is similar to a side-business and you can claim relevant expenses (and it's trade income, not rental income).

Searching the web I've seen several posts stating you can claim items including the following:

- Food for guests (breakfast)
- Cleaning supplies
- Insurance
- Electricity & Phone
- Repairs & Maintenance
- Wear and Tear
- Rent

Regarding rent, I've even seen it outlined as a percentage of nights of the month, as below:
[Monthly Rent Expense] x [Days rented out/Days in Month] = Amount you can deduct for Tax Purposes

Information on the subject include Tommy McGibney's Tax Blog, the E&Y document AirBnB had done, AirBnB website, rentalincome.ie's blog, Irish Examiner post, and many more.

Essentially, I'd like someone who has genuine experience with this sort of thing to weigh in on this, as I'm sure there are MANY others in the same boat who are unsure what to claim on our 2015 tax return.

Thanks in advance!

athtrasna

Revenue, or an accountant are the only people who can give you an accurate answer.

twiga

athtrasna wrote: »

Revenue, or an accountant are the only people who can give you an accurate answer.

I appreciate that, but I was hoping there might be someone on here who has already asked these questions and gotten a real answer. I'm sure the information would be very useful to the wider community.

athtrasna

And I'm pretty sure that if that were the case someone would have answered by now. Over to the professionals.