Houfy Tax Guidelines

Tax is one of the few parts of hosting Houfy cannot do for you. This page explains how tax usually works on a short-term rental booking, what Houfy does and does not do, and where to find the rules that apply to your property. It is general information, not tax advice — the rules differ in every country, state and city, and change often.

Who handles tax on a Houfy booking

Your guests pay you directly, through your own Stripe, Square or PayPal account. Houfy is not in the payment flow, so Houfy does not calculate, collect, hold or remit any tax on your bookings.

That is different from how some other platforms work. Several large booking sites are treated as marketplace facilitators in parts of the United States and collect lodging tax from the guest and remit it themselves. If you have hosted on one of those sites, do not assume the same thing happens here. On Houfy, registering with the tax authority, charging the right amount, filing the return and paying it are all yours.

Our Terms of Service say the same thing: permits, registrations, licences, zoning, safety, tax and fair housing law sit with you.

Lodging, occupancy and tourist tax

Most places that allow short-term renting tax it. The tax goes by many names — sales tax, occupancy tax, lodging tax, room tax, accommodations tax, bed tax, hotel tax, tourist tax — and it is separate from the income tax you file once a year. It is usually paid to a city, county, state or national authority, and how often you file depends on the jurisdiction and sometimes on how much you take: monthly, quarterly and annual filing are all common.

What the tax is charged on varies too. A common approach is to tax the total amount a guest has to pay in order to stay — the rent plus any mandatory charge such as a cleaning fee, booking fee, pet fee or extra-person charge — and to leave out a deposit that is genuinely refundable. Your own jurisdiction decides, and some treat individual charges differently. Check before you assume a charge sits outside the tax base.

Before you take a booking: find out whether your property sits in a taxing jurisdiction, register with it, and find out the rate and what it applies to. Then enter the rate on your listing, so the tax is calculated and shown to the guest rather than coming out of what you thought you were earning.

Registration and permit numbers

Many cities and regions require a short-term rental permit, licence or registration number, and require it to be shown wherever the property is advertised. Across the European Union this is now the rule rather than the exception: an EU regulation on short-term rental data has applied since 20 May 2026, under which registration numbers are collected and checked and listing and activity data is passed to national authorities.

If your property has a registration number, enter it on your listing. Where the law requires us to share host or listing information with an authority, we will.

Income tax

Lodging tax is not income tax. Whatever you collect and remit locally, what you earn from renting is income, and it is taxed where you are resident and usually where the property is.

If you file in the United States, the IRS sets out the rules for residential and vacation rental property in Topic 415 and Publication 527. In outline: rental income, and the expenses you can set against it — mortgage interest, property tax, maintenance, utilities, insurance, depreciation — are normally reported on Schedule E of Form 1040. Deductions are limited if you also use the property yourself for more than the greater of 14 days or 10% of the days it is rented at a fair rental price. If you use it as a residence and rent it for fewer than 15 days in the year, you generally report neither the income nor the expenses. Losses can be restricted by the at-risk and passive-activity rules in Publication 925, and rental income can bring the Net Investment Income Tax into play.

Those are headlines, not the rules. The IRS keeps its pages current and this one is not written to keep pace with them, so read them rather than relying on the summary above.

If you file outside the United States, the equivalent rules are your own country's, and a local accountant is worth more than any of this.

How your earnings are reported

Houfy does not process your booking payments and does not issue you an earnings statement or a tax form for them.

Your payment processor — Stripe, Square or PayPal — may report the payments it handles for you and may send you a form. The forms, thresholds and timing are theirs and they change, so ask them rather than us, and keep your own records of every booking.

Tax on what you pay Houfy

Houfy's own prices exclude tax. Where we are required to charge VAT, sales tax or a similar tax on what you pay us, we add it and show it separately. That is set out in the Terms of Service and has nothing to do with the tax on your bookings.

For guests

Where tax applies to a stay it is normally included in, or added to, what the host charges, and shown in the listing or at checkout. Some places also charge a tourist tax collected in person at the property. If you are not sure what a charge is, ask the host before you book.

Frequently asked questions

Does Houfy collect and remit lodging tax for me?

No. Houfy is not in the payment flow and does not collect or remit any tax on your bookings. Registering, charging, filing and paying are all yours.

Will Houfy send me a tax form for my earnings?

No. Houfy does not process your booking payments, so it has no earnings to report. Your payment processor may send you one.

Are cleaning fees taxable?

Usually, where the fee is mandatory. Most jurisdictions tax any charge that is a condition of the stay, so a compulsory cleaning fee is normally part of the taxable amount. Where it is genuinely optional, treatment differs — check with your jurisdiction.

Are pet fees taxable?

In many jurisdictions, on the same reasoning: if the guest has to pay it to stay, it usually forms part of the taxable amount. Not everywhere. Check.

Is a refundable deposit taxable?

Usually not, where it is genuinely refundable and is returned. If you keep part of it, that part may become taxable. Check.

Where do I enter my tax rate and my registration number?

Both are fields on your listing. Set the tax rate there so the tax is calculated and shown to the guest, and enter the registration or permit number there where your jurisdiction requires one to be displayed.

Are there tools that help?

Some hosts use Avalara MyLodgeTax to work out and file lodging tax. Houfy has no commercial relationship with Avalara and receives nothing if you sign up; naming it is not a recommendation, and there are others.

This page is general information about how tax usually works for short-term rentals. It is not tax or legal advice, Houfy is not your tax adviser, and nothing here takes account of your property, your jurisdiction or your circumstances. Rules and rates change. Before you act on any of it, speak to a qualified tax professional or your local tax authority. If something on this page looks wrong, tell us at info@houfy.com.