1099-K for Airbnb and Vrbo hosts: what the form shows and what to do
Every January, hosts open a tax form from Airbnb or Vrbo and see a number far bigger than anything that ever landed in their bank account. That number is correct, and so is your bank statement. They measure different things. This guide covers who gets a 1099-K for tax year 2025, what the form actually reports, and how to make your own records line up with it before you file in 2026.
The federal threshold is back to $20,000 and 200 transactions
The rules changed again in 2025, so most articles you find online are out of date. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill, the federal reporting threshold reverted to the old standard: a platform files a 1099-K for you only if it processed more than $20,000 in gross payments and more than 200 transactions for you in the calendar year. The IRS confirmed this in FAQs published October 2025 (IR-2025-107). The change is retroactive, reinstating the threshold that applied before the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, so the temporary $600 and $5,000 phase-down figures you may remember reading about no longer apply at the federal level.
Both conditions have to be met. A host with $35,000 across 120 bookings does not trigger federal reporting. Neither does a host with 300 bookings totaling $18,000. Airbnb states it applies exactly this test for 2025: greater than $20,000 in gross transactions and over 200 payment transactions. Vrbo says the same: it sends the form to U.S. persons when it processed more than 200 payment transactions with a gross amount exceeding $20,000 during calendar year 2025.
Note that each platform describes the test in terms of its own transactions with you, so read each platform's tax documentation separately if you list on more than one.
Your state may use a much lower threshold
Not receiving a federal 1099-K does not mean you will not receive one at all. Several states require platforms to file at lower amounts. Two examples with official sources:
- Massachusetts requires third party settlement organizations to report gross payments of $600 or greater to a payee with a Massachusetts address, regardless of the number of transactions.
- Virginia requires the form when a platform pays $600 or more in a calendar year to a payee with a Virginia mailing address, even where federal rules would not require it.
Airbnb's tax documentation page lists nine states and districts with separate lower filing thresholds: Arkansas, District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Vermont, and Virginia. If your address is in one of these, expect a form even with modest booking volume. Check your own state's tax authority for the current figure, since these rules change.
The form reports gross, and gross is bigger than you think
Here is the part that surprises hosts every year. The 1099-K does not report what you were paid out. It reports the gross value of the payment transactions the platform processed.
Airbnb is explicit about this. The amounts on its 1099-K are reported before the deduction of Airbnb fees and commissions, and the reported figure represents gross reservation totals, including cleaning fees and any pass-through taxes. Vrbo's form works the same way: it includes the gross value of payment transactions with no reduction for Vrbo commission, refunds, payment processing fees, or other applicable fees.
So the gap between your 1099-K and your bank deposits is made of real, explainable pieces:
- Host service fees and commissions the platform kept
- Payment processing fees (on Vrbo)
- Refunds that were processed but not netted out of the gross figure (on Vrbo)
- Cleaning fees and pass-through taxes bundled into the gross reservation total
Example (hypothetical numbers, and the fee amount is illustrative): a guest books 3 nights at $150 with a $100 cleaning fee. The booking subtotal is 3 × $150 + $100 = $550. Suppose the platform also collected $44 of occupancy tax that passes through you, and deducted a host service fee of $17. The gross reservation total that feeds the 1099-K is $550 + $44 = $594. Your payout is $550 + $44 minus $17 = $577. Across a year of 150 similar bookings, the form would show roughly $89,100 while your bank received roughly $86,550. Both numbers are right. Your job is to be able to show the bridge between them, booking by booking.
What the form means for your tax return
Three points, all straight from the agencies and platforms:
- The form is informational. It does not create tax by itself, and its absence does not remove any. The IRS states that no matter the amount of reported payments, if you receive payments for selling goods or services, you must report all income on your tax return. Falling under the threshold changes what gets filed about you. It changes nothing about what you owe.
- The gross figure is a starting point. The IRS instructs taxpayers to use Form 1099-K with other records to help figure and report taxable income. In practice that means you report your gross rental income and then deduct platform fees, cleaning costs, and your other expenses on the appropriate schedule. Which schedule that is depends on your situation, and we cover the distinction in Schedule C vs Schedule E for short-term rentals.
- Your own books are the authority. Vrbo tells hosts directly that they are required to prepare their income tax return based on their separate books and records. The form is a cross-check on your bookkeeping. It was never meant to replace it.
What to do when the form arrives
- Compare it to your own gross figure. Sum the gross reservation totals in your records for the year and see whether the platform's number is in the same neighborhood. If you only ever recorded bank deposits, this comparison is impossible, which is exactly the trap to avoid. Our guide on tracking Airbnb income and expenses shows the three numbers to log per booking.
- Explain the difference with fees. Gross minus platform fees, processing fees, and refunds should land close to your total payouts. If it does not, something specific is wrong with a specific booking, and dated records let you find it.
- Keep the pass-through items visible. Cleaning fees you collected and taxes that flowed through you are inside the gross figure. Track them as their own line items so they do not silently inflate what looks like profit.
- File from your records. Report your income from your books, deduct your documented expenses, and keep the 1099-K in the file as supporting paperwork.
You can sanity-check the fee side of any single booking with our free host fee calculator, and model a full year with the short-term rental profit calculator.