It's that time of year again when us writers can lean on easy openers like 'it's that time of year again'. For Airbnb hosts, the holiday period brings both positives and negatives - opportunities for more bookings as people travel to visit family and friends, countered by looming tax deadlines. December 31st is a big day you'll be best served preparing for sooner rather than later. This article explains how.
Behind the Date: December 31st
December 31st marks the end of the tax year, which means it's the cutoff for all income and expenses that will be reported on your upcoming tax return. For American hosts, this date represents the final opportunity to maximize deductions, reconcile earnings, and ensure all documentation is in order before the IRS reporting cycle closes.
Canadian tax filers use the CRA's Form T776 (Statement of Real Estate Rentals) and Form T2125 (Statement of Business or Professional Activities), plus GST/HST remittance should they be on the default calendar-based fiscal year.
Everyone, meanwhile, can benefit from an end-of-year assessment of their business operations as December comes to an end.
How to Prepare for Year-End as An Airbnb Host
Airbnb's community forum is filled with questions from confused hosts who, whether for the first time or not, need answers on everything from taxes to financial preplanning as 2025 ends. Allow us to provide some clarity by addressing some of the most common concerns:
Fill Out Forms and Fulfill Reporting Requirements
First up, forms: U.S. hosts must complete Form W-9 to provide taxpayer information to Airbnb, ensuring their earnings are reported accurately to the IRS. Airbnb uses this to generate Form 1099-K, which summarizes gross earnings for the year and is typically available by the end of January.
For completely-Canadian hosts, the reporting process works a bit differently. Rather than receiving a 1099-K, hosts are responsible for reporting their Airbnb income directly to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) as part of their annual personal or business tax return. Airbnb does not issue official tax slips in Canada - your earnings are instead accessible through your Airbnb transaction history or Earnings Summary, which can be downloaded from your host dashboard.
Review the Past Year
Operationally, the end of the year is a natural time to evaluate relationships with cleaners, maintenance vendors, and any property managers or co-hosts, making adjustments where reliability or cost has become an issue. Hosts can also review their 2025 tech stack - channel managers, property management software, pricing tools, messaging automation - and cancel or consolidate subscriptions that are not clearly contributing to higher occupancy, better reviews, or time savings. Updating house manuals, digital guidebooks, and automated messages to reflect new amenities, policies, or platform changes (such as updated review rules or messaging policies) helps reduce friction and misunderstandings with guests in the next year.
Prepare for Local Compliance Changes
Regulations around short-term rentals evolve frequently. Check whether your city or province has updated registration requirements, zoning rules, or tax remittance procedures for 2026. Toronto is a great example. As the World Cup comes to town, it's increasing its Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) for part of the year. Other cities, from Vancouver to Montreal, may introduce similar licensing fees, occupancy limits, or seasonal tax adjustments.
Set Next Year’s Business Goals
The new year is your opportunity to establish clear, measurable objectives that will guide your hosting journey from day one. Starting in January gives you a full 12-month runway to track progress, adjust strategies, and celebrate milestones as you hit them. Consider setting specific targets like achieving 70% occupancy by Q2, earning $2,000 per month by summer, securing 50 bookings in your first year, or maintaining a 4.8+ star rating across all categories. These concrete goals transform hosting from a side hustle into a real business with benchmarks you can measure, optimize, and build upon as you gain experience.
12 months can fly by fast when you're in a business as busy as this one. 2025's end is a chance to pause and appreciate how far you've come. Just don't forget about critical deadlines, because that's what will ultimately determine how great 2026 starts.
