Income tax ? landlords rent 1,600 per month rent a room to cover it. money goes to pay landlord

[Bonnie133]

I am renting a room to cover land space rent. This is not to pay the morgage and the money goes to the landlord. The landlord requires me to be responsible for all the payments. If I make more than 1,600 a month anything over that I would consider income at the end of the year. I however do not consider the amount someone elses pays in rent to share my space when the money goes to pay a land lord income to me.  Please advise. I am a little uncomfortable providing  my tax info for someone elses rent

[Matthew285]

@Bonnie133 you should probably consult a CPA to ensure you are reporting the income and expenses correctly.

That being said, I think you have a different definition of "income" than the IRS uses.

When filing your taxes, you should report all the income you receive from Airbnb as income.

The amount you pay "to cover land space rent" is an expense which should be a deductible expense, which does reduce your taxable income.

Properly reported, you should not have to pay tax on the income that is spent on any of your deductible expenses.

But you do need to report it.

So to be completely clear: you don't subtract your expenses ahead of time and just report the left overs as your income.

You report *all* your income, as well as your deductible expenses.

Then you pay taxes on the difference.

[Bonnie133]

Ok thank you...

[Rebecca181]

@Bonnie133 Matthew is correct. If this is your first year reporting, it is a good idea to speak with an experienced tax professional who understands short term rental tax issues. I have had good luck with H & R Block. I would avoid Turbo Tax, just based on my attempts to report via their software. It was impossible.

[Paul154]

Pragmatically, if you don't get a 1099 from Airbnb, I would ignore the income.

(It is not material. Your expenses offset the income, so no tax liability)

If you do get a 1099, you should claim the income and the expenses. If you get a good CPA, you could even book a loss.

[David126]

You said you are sharing the space, so is the $1600 jsut part of the rent you pay? Or all of it including the space you occupy.

[David3128]

1. The income tax is an excise.

2. Excise taxes are taxes on the gainful exercise of privileges.

3. You probably didn't earn your money by exercising any taxable privilege (or earned very little that way).

If Airbnb issued you a 1099, that can be rebutted.  search on Duckduckgo for  losthorizons.com. Read the book "Cracking The Code"