Tax season shouldn't feel like an emergency. But for many STR owners, records are scattered across multiple apps, email inboxes, and bank statements. Here's a reference checklist of what your CPA typically needs to prepare your short-term rental tax return. Your CPA may request additional items depending on your specific situation.

Income Documentation

Form 1099-K from Airbnb, VRBO, or other platforms (if you meet the reporting threshold). Even if you don't receive one, your CPA needs a summary of total gross rental income. Most platforms provide a year-end earnings summary you can download from your host dashboard. See Airbnb's tax documentation help page for instructions.

Rental income breakdown — nightly rates, cleaning fees collected, and other income. If you have multiple properties, break this out per property.

Expense Records

A categorized summary of all rental-related expenses is essential. Common categories include cleaning/turnover costs, repairs and maintenance, utilities, insurance premiums, property management fees, platform fees, supplies, professional services, marketing, and software subscriptions. For each expense, provide the date, vendor, amount, category, and receipt or invoice when available.

Mortgage and Property Information

Form 1098 from your lender showing mortgage interest paid. Property tax statements. Insurance documentation. If the property has any personal use, your CPA needs the number of rental days versus personal use days to calculate proper allocation per IRS Publication 527.

Depreciation and Cost Segregation

For the first year: purchase price, closing statement, and any cost segregation study results. For subsequent years, your CPA will reference the prior year's depreciation schedule. If you had a cost seg study, provide the full report including asset classifications.

Mileage Log

A detailed log of business trips to your property: date, destination, purpose, and miles. The IRS requires this documentation to support mileage deductions per Publication 463.

Active Hours Log

If your CPA is evaluating material participation status, they'll need your contemporaneous log of hours spent managing the property — dates, activities, and time spent.

Getting Organized

DeductFlow is built to solve this exact problem. When expenses, mileage, hours, and cost seg records live in one place and are organized by category, you can hand your CPA a clean package instead of spending days pulling it all together.