The sharing economy continues to grow in popularity with the demand for overnight stays or weekends away using rental platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz at an all time high. Here are our airbnb tax tips.
Renting out a space within your home, your beach house, or even your main residence whilst your away on an extended holiday can be a great way to earn some extra income! But if you are considering entering the sharing economy it is really important that you understand the tax consequences of renting out your home or vacant beach house in order to stay compliant with ATO guidelines also identify opportunities to maximise your next tax return with us at Ezytaxback.com
Airbnb Tax Tips The basics
With the rising popularity of short-term rentals, the ATO are cracking down on rental property owners so it’s vital we get the basics sorted. The income you earn from Airbnb is classified as assessable income and must be declared apart of your taxable income within your tax return.
The details you need to provide the ATO include dates, so it’s important that you keep a note of the date your property became available for rent, number of weeks it was rented out for the year and also the date in which your property first earned rental income.
Expenses you can claim
When it comes to the ATO, the general rule of thumb is that you can claim most costs incurred for income generating purposes, in this case, renting! The expenses incurred are used to offset the income received from tenants.
A list of all the expenses which are
- Advertising for Tenants
- Body Corporate Fees & Charges
- Council Rates
- Water Charges
- Land Tax
- Cleaning
- Gardening & Lawn Mowing
- Pest Control
- Insurance (Building, Contents, Public Liability)
- Interest paid on mortgage
- Property Agent’s Fees & Commission
- Repairs & Maintenance
- Legal Fees
- Capital Works
- Depreciation
Capital Gains Tax
An extremely important factor to consider when thinking of entering the rental market is the tax implications for Capital gains tax events as your home make no longer be exempt from CGT should you decide to sell.
Once you begin earning income through rent of your entire or part thereof your home, whether or not it is your principal place of residency, your home may be affected and subject to a capital gains tax when you decide to sell your home.
Although If you rent out a spare room or a granny flat out the back, you may apportion the capital gain based on the floor area rented out and the period of time receiving rental income by the relative amount of years the property was held. However, there may be an break to treat it as your main residence if you lived in it prior to renting it out you may treat it as your main residence for up to six years.
Subletting
The introduction of Facebook Marketplace in the past 12 months and various Facebook pages such as the ever so popular private page “Fairy-floss real estate” with over 500,000 members it has become an innovative pathway for property owners and would-be landlords alike to make some extra income with zero agent fees involved in comparison to Airbnb which takes a cut of the rental income earned.
It is very common within the mentioned social platforms that tenants are renting out their personal rooms whilst they’re away, but it is vital that you are aware as a tenant that this is classified as “subletting” and in accordance with Victoria Department of consumer affairs, you must acquire written consent from your landlord prior to advertising your room for rent. The rules and regulations differ from state to state so its best that you read up on So its important that you talk to your landlord or body corporate if you are renting within an apartment block before entering into a sublet agreement.
If want some extra information regarding your tax affairs or have any general queries, please feel free to contact us.
