Short-term rental lodging tax return checklist
Before you file a monthly or quarterly occupancy tax return for your rental: the numbers you need, where they come from in your Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com exports, and what to keep on file.
Before the period ends
- Know your filing frequency and due date from your registration letter or the tax office's website.
- Know which platforms collect and remit the tax in your area, for which taxes (state, county, city can differ).
- Know your tax office's rules on cleaning fees, long-stay exemptions and which date assigns a stay to a period.
Numbers to prepare
- Gross rental receipts for the period, from every platform and direct booking.
- Exempt receipts (for example long stays) and how many nights.
- Receipts on which a platform already remitted the tax.
- Taxable receipts and tax due at each rate.
- Nights rented (some returns ask for it).
Keep on file
- The original exports from each platform.
- A stay-by-stay list showing how each total was built.
- A copy of the return and the payment confirmation.
Lodgetally prepares items 1–5 from your exports and gives you a printable worksheet and stay list to keep. It is not tax advice; if anything is unclear, ask your tax office or accountant.
FAQ
Do I have to file if I had no bookings?
Many tax offices require a return even when nothing is due. Check your registration instructions.
Is it really private?
Yes. Your file is read by JavaScript running in your browser tab; its contents — guest names, earnings, listings — are never sent over the network. You can verify this in your browser's developer tools (Network tab), or go offline after the page has loaded.
Is this tax advice?
No. Lodgetally does the arithmetic from your platform files using the rates and rules you enter. Rules differ by state, county and city — check what's taxable, the exemptions, and whether a platform collects for you with your tax office, and file on their form.
Which files work?
The Airbnb earnings / transaction history CSV, Vrbo payout and stay-tax reports, the Booking.com extranet reservations export, and most property-management exports with stay dates and amounts — CSV, TXT, XLSX, XLS or ODS. Columns are detected automatically and you can change any of them; your choice is remembered for that layout.
Why by check-in date and not payout date?
Most lodging-tax returns are based on when guests stayed. Payout dates drift from stay dates at every period boundary. You can choose check-in, check-out, payout date, or splitting each stay's receipts by nights in each month.
Does it know my tax rate?
No — you enter it (one or more rates, e.g. state + county + city), so the worksheet always matches your jurisdiction's current rate.
What's free?
Everything, one file at a time, for reports covering up to 40 reservations — the full worksheet, checks, CSV summary and printable worksheet. Pro removes the limit, combines several files (e.g. Airbnb + Vrbo + Booking.com), and adds the Excel workbook and per-stay CSV.