Making Tax Digital for Airbnb Hosts, Free Software for Landlords

If you rent out property on Airbnb, Booking.com, or Vrbo and your property income plus any self-employment income exceeds £50,000, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies from 6 April 2026.

Is Airbnb income "property income"?

Yes. HMRC treats short-term holiday lets as UK property income, the same category as traditional buy-to-let. Whether you rent out a spare room, a holiday cottage, or multiple properties, it all counts as property income for MTD.

What about Rent a Room relief?

If you rent out a furnished room in your main home and earn less than £7,500 per year from it, Rent a Room relief means you don't need to report it. But if you earn more than £7,500, or if you're renting out a separate property, this relief doesn't apply and the income counts towards MTD.

Multiple properties = one business

HMRC treats all your UK rental properties as a single property business. You don't file separately for each Airbnb listing, you submit one combined set of figures covering all your UK properties together.

What expenses can you claim?

Common allowable expenses for Airbnb hosts include:

• Platform fees (Airbnb service charge)
• Cleaning and laundry costs
• Utilities (gas, electric, water, internet, proportional to rental use)
• Insurance
• Repairs and maintenance
• Replacement of furnishings (furniture, appliances, kitchenware)
• Professional photos and advertising
• Accountancy fees

Note: for residential property, mortgage interest isn't an ordinary allowable expense. Under MTD it must be reported separately in your quarterly updates (as a residential finance cost), with a 20% tax reducer at year-end. flonancial's simplified flow doesn't support that separate field yet, so landlords with mortgage interest need a fuller MTD product for now.

How to submit quarterly updates

Keep a spreadsheet of your rental income and expenses. Each quarter, upload it to flonancial and submit your cumulative year-to-date figures to HMRC. Download your earnings from your Airbnb host dashboard to reconcile.

Getting started

Sign up for MTD on GOV.UK, create a free flonancial account, connect to HMRC, and submit your first quarterly update when it's due (7 August 2026 for Q1). flonancial supports UK property income and is free for individual landlords.