Canadian Airbnb host bookkeeping: the payout, the tax inside it, and the licence file

The deposit already has GST/HST folded into it

A Toronto condo or Muskoka cottage booked through Airbnb or Vrbo pays out nightly revenue, a cleaning fee, and possibly a municipal accommodation tax, minus the platform's commission. Since July 2021, platforms have had to collect and remit GST/HST on the accommodation itself whenever the host has not given the platform a GST/HST number — so an unregistered host's payout may already have the tax removed at source. A host who has registered voluntarily or crossed the threshold gives the platform that number, stops the platform's collection, and takes over charging and remitting the tax personally. The bookkeeping has to know which situation applies to each listing, because the same gross booking amount is posted completely differently depending on the answer.

Direct bookings — a repeat guest who e-transfers you for a long weekend, skipping the platform entirely — carry none of that platform-level tax handling. If you are registered, that e-transfer still owes GST/HST, and it is the easiest dollar to lose track of because no platform statement ever mentions it.

A cottage's revenue also arrives in a lump the bank feed cannot explain on its own: a summer booking made in February pays out partly as a deposit and partly at check-in, and the two payments belong to the stay month, not the month the cash lands. We post revenue to the month of the stay and keep a season-over-season view, because a cottage that is dark from October to April needs its own read on whether the summer months are actually carrying the year.

Municipal accommodation tax gets its own liability account

Toronto's municipal accommodation tax is collected by major platforms on bookings they process, but Ottawa's short-term rental rules and many cottage-country municipalities run their own licensing and levy structures, and coverage is not uniform across platforms or property types. We open a liability account per municipality, post platform-remitted amounts as pass-throughs, and flag anything you must register for and remit yourself so a licence renewal never arrives as a surprise alongside a tax bill.

The licence file has become a bookkeeping document in its own right. Registration numbers, renewal dates and proof of compliance now belong beside the tax records for the property, because a lapsed or missing licence can affect what expenses are deductible for the period it was out of date. We keep a compliance folder next to the ledger for exactly that reason, updated every renewal cycle rather than chased down at tax time.

Cleaners and co-hosts: T4A, not T5018

A cleaner or co-host paid to turn the unit over is a contractor for fees for services — reported on a T4A, not the T5018 slip construction subcontractors receive. We collect a name, address and SIN or business number before the first payment, not at year-end scramble time, and post cleaning-fee revenue from guests separately from what you pay the cleaner, because netting the two hides your real turnover cost. Where the same person works exclusively for you, on your schedule, with your supplies, how the CRA decides between employee and contractor is the test worth applying before the arrangement calcifies.

Refundable damage deposits you hold directly, rather than through the platform's own resolution system, are a liability until forfeited or returned — not revenue the day they arrive. A deposit kept to cover a broken window offsets the specific repair invoice; the balance, if any, still belongs to the guest.

A rented room in your own home needs its own apportionment

Hosts who list a basement suite or spare room while still living in the home cannot book 100% of the mortgage interest, utilities and insurance against the listing. The apportionment logic follows the same reasonable-basis approach CRA applies when a home office is deducted for an online business — square footage and days rented drive the split, and we keep that calculation current as the space or the calendar changes. Furniture and appliances bought for the suite are capital additions, not supplies, and we flag any capital cost allowance claim for a conversation before it is posted, because CCA on a space that is part of your principal residence can affect the exemption on that portion later.

Source: CRA — The platform economy.