Which Airbnb expenses are tax deductible, and is the 15.5% host fee one of them?
Most of what you spend running an Airbnb is deductible. The platform's host service fee, cleaning, supplies, repairs, insurance, mortgage interest, and the software you use to manage bookings all reduce the taxable income you report, as long as the expense was ordinary and necessary for renting the property. That includes the fee itself. If you are on Airbnb's single-fee structure and pay 15.5 percent, that fee is a commission, and commissions sit on one of the plainest lines of Schedule E. This guide covers what generally counts, what gets treated differently, and how to log each item so a preparer can use it without guesswork. Start sorting your own receipts with our free expense categories checklist.
The general rule: ordinary and necessary
The IRS states the standard plainly in Publication 527: you can deduct your ordinary and necessary expenses for managing, conserving, or maintaining rental property from the time you make it available for rent. Ordinary means common for a short-term rental. Necessary means helpful and appropriate for running it. Most of what a host spends to keep a listing bookable and guests comfortable clears that bar.
The Schedule E instructions lay out the categories built for exactly this: advertising, auto and travel, cleaning and maintenance, commissions, insurance, legal and other professional fees, management fees, mortgage interest, other interest, repairs, supplies, taxes, utilities, and depreciation. If a cost fits one of those buckets and relates to the rental, it is a candidate for deduction.
Yes, the Airbnb host service fee is deductible
Airbnb's fee is the platform's commission on your booking, taken out before your payout arrives. Most hosts on the newer single-fee structure pay 15.5 percent of the subtotal, though some pay between 14 and 16 percent depending on their account, according to Airbnb's own fee documentation. Whatever your rate, the fee does not disappear from your books. It shows up twice: once inside the gross subtotal you report as income, and again as a deductible commission that brings your taxable income back down. Our host fees guide covers the split-fee and single-fee structures in full if you want the mechanics behind the percentage.
The bookkeeping habit that keeps this correct is recording the subtotal and the fee separately, never only the payout. Here is how one booking breaks down, with illustrative numbers:
| Line | Amount | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| Booking subtotal (nightly rate plus cleaning fee) | $1,000 | Gross rental income |
| Airbnb host service fee at 15.5% | $155 | Commissions expense |
| What lands in your bank | $845 | Not an income or expense line on its own |
| Net taxable effect | $1,000 income minus $155 expense | Equals your $845 payout, once the deduction is taken |
Report the $1,000 as gross rental income and the $155 as a Commissions expense. Skipping straight to logging $845 understates both numbers and quietly loses you the deduction.
What else is generally deductible
The table below maps common host costs to the Schedule E and Publication 527 concepts they fall under. Treat it as an organizing reference for sorting receipts, since a few of these rows depend on your specific facts.
| Expense | Generally deductible? | Schedule E / Pub 527 concept |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb or Vrbo host service fee | Yes, in full | Commissions |
| Turnover cleaning you pay a cleaner | Yes, in full | Cleaning and maintenance |
| Supplies: linens, coffee, soap, batteries | Yes, in full | Supplies |
| Repairs that restore something to working order | Yes, in the year you pay | Repairs |
| A replacement mattress, appliance, or new roof | Usually capitalized and depreciated over several years | Improvement (capitalized) |
| Mortgage interest | Yes, in full | Mortgage interest |
| Property insurance and STR liability coverage | Yes, in full | Insurance |
| Listing software, smart-lock apps, photography | Generally yes | Legal and other professional fees / Management fees |
| Occupancy or lodging tax you personally remit | Generally, if not already netted out by the platform | Taxes. See our occupancy tax guide |
| Days you or family used the property for free | Deduction may be limited for those days | Personal Use of a Dwelling Unit |
This table is an organizing reference for sorting receipts. Whether a specific purchase is a repair or an improvement, and how personal-use days affect your numbers, depends on your facts. Confirm the treatment with a tax professional before you file. Sort your own receipts into these categories with our free expense categories checklist, built around the same Publication 527 groups.
Repairs stay deductible now, improvements get spread out
One row above deserves its own explanation, because it is where hosts most often guess wrong. Publication 527 draws a firm line between repairs and improvements. A repair restores something to working order: a fixed drawer, a patched leak, a re-caulked tub. You deduct the full cost in the year you pay it. An improvement adds value, restores the property after major damage, or adapts it to a new use: a new mattress, a replaced water heater, a remodeled bathroom. The IRS requires you to capitalize these and recover the cost through depreciation over several years instead of deducting the full amount at once.
The practical test is what the money did. Work that returned something to its prior condition usually counts as a repair. Work that made something new, bigger, or longer-lasting than what was there before usually needs to be capitalized. Borderline cases, like a full kitchen refresh after years of wear, are exactly what a tax professional is for.
Personal use days change the math
If you or your family stay in the property without paying rent, those days count as personal use, and Publication 527 requires you to divide your expenses between rental and personal use before you deduct anything. A property rented 300 days a year with two weeks of personal use produces a very different calculation than one used personally half the year. If you have any personal use at all, raise it directly with your preparer rather than estimating a ratio yourself.
Guest-paid cleaning fees raise a related but separate question: whether the fee itself counts as income. It generally does, since Airbnb folds it into your gross reservation total. What you then pay a cleaner is the separate deductible expense. See the FAQ below for the short version.
Keep the receipts that back up the deduction
None of the categories above matter if you cannot show your work later. The habit that makes each one easy to substantiate is recording three numbers per booking (the subtotal, the fee, and the payout) instead of only the deposit, and filing each expense receipt under its category as it happens rather than during a year-end scramble. Our guide on tracking Airbnb income and expenses covers the full weekly routine. If you file on Schedule C instead of Schedule E because you provide substantial services to guests, the same records still apply. Which schedule you are on is a separate question, covered in our Schedule C vs Schedule E guide.
A few terms, defined
- Ordinary and necessary expense. The IRS test for a deductible expense: common for the activity, and helpful and appropriate for running it (Publication 527).
- Commission. The cut a platform keeps from your booking subtotal, including Airbnb's host service fee. Deducted on the Commissions line of Schedule E.
- Capitalize. To treat a purchase as an asset you depreciate over its useful life, rather than deduct in full the year you pay for it. Required for improvements. Ordinary repairs are deducted in full instead.
- Gross rental income. The full booking subtotal before any platform fee is subtracted. This is generally the figure your 1099-K reports if you cross the reporting threshold.
- Schedule E. The tax form most short-term rental hosts use to report rental income and expenses.
Frequently asked questions
Can I deduct the Airbnb host service fee?
Generally yes. It is the platform's commission on your booking, and Schedule E instructions list agents' commissions among the ordinary and necessary expenses hosts deduct from rental income. Report your full booking subtotal as income and the fee as its own Commissions expense, rather than only logging the payout that lands in your bank.
Is the cleaning fee guests pay me taxable income?
Generally yes. Airbnb includes the cleaning fee guests pay in the gross reservation total it pays out and reports, so it is part of your gross rental income. What you then pay your own cleaner is a separate, generally deductible cleaning and maintenance expense. The two amounts rarely match exactly.
Can I deduct a new mattress or appliance I bought for my rental?
Usually not in full in the year you buy it. Publication 527 treats furniture, appliances, and other items with a useful life beyond one year as improvements that generally get capitalized and depreciated over time, rather than deducted all at once. A repair that restores something to working order is treated differently from replacing the item outright. Ask a tax professional how to classify a specific purchase.
Last updated July 21, 2026. Deduction rules and platform fee structures change from year to year. Confirm anything in this guide against irs.gov or with your tax professional before you file.