Airbnb Expense Categories for Schedule E and T776: An Organizer (Not Tax Advice)

Nightly Profit · October 25, 2026 · 6 min read

If you host in the US, your rental expenses probably end up on Schedule E. If you host in Canada, on form T776. Either way, tax time goes faster when your expenses are already sorted into categories that match the form, instead of a year of receipts in one pile. This page lists the common short-term rental expense categories and the line each usually maps to, taken from the official IRS and CRA guides. It's an organizer, not tax advice. Which form applies to you, and how a specific expense is treated, depends on your situation. Confirm with a qualified tax professional.

First: are you even on Schedule E or T776?

Both forms are for rental income. Short-term rentals don't always qualify, and the question comes up a lot for hosts who offer hotel-style services.

US: the IRS instructions for Schedule E say that if you provide significant services that are primarily for your tenant's convenience, such as regular cleaning, changing linen, or maid service, you report the income and expenses on Schedule C instead (IRS Instructions for Schedule E). The same instructions cover how personal use of a home you also rent out limits your deductions (more below).
Canada: the CRA's rental income guide explains that if you provide additional services to tenants, such as cleaning, security and meals, you may be carrying on a business, in which case the business income guide (T4002) applies rather than T776 (CRA Guide T4036, Rental Income).

Cleaning between guests is normal turnover work and isn't automatically "significant services". But where the line falls is exactly the kind of question to take to a professional. Categorizing well helps either way, since the same expense buckets show up on both rental and business forms.

US: Schedule E expense lines

Schedule E, Part I, lists expenses by line. Here's how common host expenses usually map. Line descriptions are summarized from the IRS instructions.

Line 5, Advertising: paid listing promotion, photography for the listing, your own booking website.
Line 6, Auto and travel: ordinary and necessary trips for the rental, such as supply runs or meeting a repair person. The 2025 instructions give the standard mileage rate as 70 cents a mile. For 2026 the IRS rate is 72.5 cents a mile for driving from January 1 to June 30 and 76 cents a mile from July 1 to December 31 (IRS standard mileage rates). You can use actual expenses instead.
Line 7, Cleaning and maintenance: cleaner pay, laundry, cleaning supplies.
Line 8, Commissions: a common place for platform service fees; confirm with your preparer.
Line 9, Insurance: short-term rental or landlord coverage for the property.
Line 10, Legal and other professional fees: includes tax return preparation fees for the rental part of your return.
Line 11, Management fees: co-host or property manager fees.
Lines 12 and 13, Mortgage and other interest: interest on loans for the rental property.
Line 14, Repairs: work that keeps the property in good operating condition, such as fixing a broken lock or painting a room. Improvements that add value or extend the property's life, such as replacing an HVAC system, are capital expenses and are depreciated instead.
Line 15, Supplies: guest consumables and small items.
Line 16, Taxes: property taxes on the rental.
Line 17, Utilities: electricity, gas, water, internet. The instructions note the base charge for the first residential phone line isn't deductible.
Line 18, Depreciation: the building and capital improvements, spread over time. Land isn't depreciable.
Line 19, Other: anything ordinary and necessary that doesn't fit above, listed by type.

Two things the IRS instructions say you can't deduct: the value of your own labour, and the full cost of capital improvements in the year you pay for them.

Personal use (US)

If you also use the home yourself, Line 2 asks for fair rental days and personal use days. The instructions treat the property as a residence if your personal use is more than the greater of 14 days or 10% of the days it was rented at fair rental price, which limits deductions. If you rent it for fewer than 15 days in the year and use it as a home, you don't report the rental income or deduct rental expenses. Keep a calendar that records which days were rented, personal and blocked.

Canada: T776 expense lines

Form T776, Statement of Real Estate Rentals, uses numbered lines. From the CRA's T4036 guide:

8521, Advertising: listing promotion and advertising for tenants.
8690, Insurance: for the rental property for the current year.
8710, Interest and bank charges: interest on money borrowed to buy or improve the property.
8810, Office expenses: small items such as stationery and postage.
8860, Professional fees: legal and accounting fees, including preparing your rental statement.
8871, Management and administration fees: paying a company or person to manage the property.
8960, Repairs and maintenance: current expenses to keep the property in its normal condition.
9060, Salaries, wages and benefits: amounts paid to someone to look after the property, such as a cleaner who is an employee. You can't deduct the value of your own labour.
9180, Property taxes
9200, Travel: travel to collect rent, supervise repairs or manage the property, within the CRA's conditions.
9220, Utilities
9281, Motor vehicle expenses
9270, Other expenses: anything that doesn't fit above.

The guide also has short-term rental lines. A short-term rental is a residential property rented for under 90 consecutive days, and T776 asks for the short-term rental portion of expenses and any amounts that aren't deductible because the rental doesn't comply with provincial or municipal rules (lines 9365 to 9367). If you host in Canada, read that section of T4036 closely.

Current vs capital, and personal use (Canada)

The CRA guide includes a table for telling a current expense (deduct this year) from a capital one (claimed over time through capital cost allowance). Replacing a refrigerator, for example, is capital, in Class 8. Capital cost allowance can't create or increase a rental loss. If you use part of the property personally, the personal portion of expenses is removed (line 9949). The CRA says to keep records and receipts for six years.

Categories that trip hosts up

Repairs vs improvements. Both the IRS and CRA draw this line. Tag big purchases as "possible capital" when you log them, then ask.
Furniture and appliances. Often capital, not supplies. Log them separately.
Mixed-use costs. Your phone, car, internet or a home you also live in. Track business use as you go, not from memory in March.
Platform fees. Some payouts arrive net of fees. Record the gross booking and the fee separately so income isn't understated and the fee isn't lost.
Cleaning fees collected. These are income, and cleaner pay is the expense. Keep both. Our guide to paying cleaners covers the job log side, and how to set your cleaning fee covers the pricing side.

A simple year-round routine

Pick one category list that matches your form and use it all year.
Log each expense with date, property, amount, category and a receipt reference.
Log trips with date, purpose and distance.
Keep a calendar of rented, personal and blocked days.
Once a month, reconcile against your bank and platform payouts.
At year end, total by category and hand the summary to your preparer. Our year-end tax checklist covers what to gather.

Tools that help

The Year-End STR Tax Pack is an Excel workbook with income, expense and mileage logs and category totals laid out for Schedule E and T776, so your year-end summary is ready to hand over. It's an organizer, not tax software or advice. For tracking income and costs per property all year, see our profit-per-listing guide, or get the tax pack together with the other host templates in the Complete Host Bundle.

General information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Any figures in examples are made up to illustrate the math. Nightly Profit is not affiliated with Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com.