Renting Out Your Home for Fewer Than 15 Days, the Tax Rule

If you use a dwelling as a residence and rent it for fewer than 15 days in a year, the IRS says you do not report the rent and do not deduct rental expenses. At 15 days or more, ordinary rental reporting applies.

1. The rule in one sentence

IRS Topic 415 puts it plainly: if you use a dwelling unit as a residence and rent it for fewer than 15 days during the year, don't report any of the rental income and don't deduct any expenses as rental expenses.

Publication 527 says the same thing in more detail: if you use a dwelling unit as a home and rent it less than 15 days during the year, its primary function is not considered to be rental, it should not be reported on Schedule E, and you are not required to report the rental income and expenses from that activity.

In everyday terms, this is often called the 14-day rule, because 14 days is the most you can rent and still qualify.

2. Two conditions you have to meet

2.1. 1. The place must be used as your residence

The rule applies to a dwelling unit you use as a home. The IRS says you use a dwelling unit as a residence if you use it for personal purposes during the year for more than the greater of:

• 14 days, or
• 10% of the total days you rent it to others at a fair rental price.

Your main home, where you live most of the year, easily meets this. A vacation home can too, if your personal use is high enough.

2.2. 2. Rental days must total fewer than 15

Count every day the unit is rented during the tax year. Fourteen days or fewer keeps you inside the rule. Fifteen days or more puts you into ordinary rental reporting.

3. What counts as a day of personal use

The IRS definition is broader than "nights you sleep there." A day of personal use is any day the unit is used by:

• You or anyone else with an ownership interest in it, with a narrow exception for certain shared equity arrangements.
• A member of your family, or of the family of another owner, unless they use it as their main home and pay a fair rental price.
• Anyone under an arrangement that lets you use some other dwelling unit, such as a home swap.
• Anyone paying less than a fair rental price.

That last point matters for the rental count too. Letting a friend stay at a steep discount is personal use, not rental at fair rent.

4. A worked example

Assume you rent your home for 12 nights during a festival at $400 a night, a figure chosen for illustration.

• Rental income: 12 x $400 = $4,800.
• Days rented: 12, which is fewer than 15.
• The home is your main residence.

Under the rule, you do not report the $4,800 as rental income, and you do not deduct cleaning, platform fees, or other costs as rental expenses.

Now suppose a guest extends by three nights, making it 15 nights and $6,000. The special rule no longer applies. You report the rental income, and expenses must be handled under the rules for a home that is also rented.

5. What happens at 15 days or more

Once you are past the exception, Topic 415 explains that if you use the unit for both rental and personal purposes, you generally must divide your total expenses between rental use and personal use based on the number of days used for each purpose.

There is also a ceiling. You cannot deduct rental expenses beyond a gross rental income limitation, though some expenses may be carried forward to the next year subject to the same limit. Rental income and expenses are generally reported on Schedule E.

Publication 527 adds a separate point for people who provide hotel-like services. If you provide substantial services primarily for the guest's convenience, such as regular cleaning, changing linen, or maid service, you report the rental on Schedule C instead. That is a different form with different rules, so it is worth getting right.

6. Your normal home deductions still work

Staying under 15 days does not cost you the deductions you would have anyway as a homeowner. Publication 527 says that for a home rented fewer than 15 days, expenses related to the home, such as mortgage interest, property taxes, and qualified casualty losses, are reported as normally allowed on Schedule A if you itemize.

7. Keeping it clean

1. Count rental days carefully, across every platform and every private arrangement, for the whole calendar year.
2. Watch extensions and repeat bookings. One extra booking can push you to 15 days.
3. Charge fair rent to anyone you count as a rental guest; discounted stays to friends or family count as personal use.
4. Keep records of dates, guests, and amounts, even though you do not report the income, so you can show you stayed under the limit.

8. Key takeaways

• If you use a home as a residence and rent it for fewer than 15 days in a year, the IRS says you do not report the rental income or deduct rental expenses.
• A home counts as a residence if personal use exceeds the greater of 14 days or 10% of fair-rent rental days.
• Discounted stays and use by family generally count as personal use, not rental.
• At 15 or more rental days, expenses must be split between rental and personal use and are capped by rental income.
• Providing hotel-style services such as regular cleaning or linen changes moves reporting to Schedule C.