You all are missing the point of his question. I'm sure if he was wondering what to deduct on taxes he would of asked that. And why be negative on saying he won't make money when there are plenty of people making much more through airbnb than through the normal rental structure. Look up airbnb arbitrage for one example of making money without even owning the properties. People are so closed minded, negative and bring others down with you. Be negative to yourself and close your mouth. Anyways..
It seems like his concern is to how not to lose benefits from ssdi while making money through airbnb. With ssdi you can have very limited earned income and unlimited unearned ( passive ) income. The key is to make sure you have people in place that handle all of your daily activities with the rental. Ssdi might ask you what you do on a daily basis to earn that airbnb income. In which you respond with I do nothing. I have a property manager, airbnb co host, contractors, an accountant, etc that handles this rental. If you do daily activities with the rental then ssdi can say that it is earned income and take away your benefits. Also look up the 14 day rule for rentals. It basically is where if you don't have anyone staying at the rental for more than 14 days then you don't have to report the income on taxes at all. But you will also not be able to deduct expenses but who cares if you don't have to pay taxes. With the 14 day rule you still may get letters from the irs wondering where their taxes are for that income because airbnb will report your earnings to the irs and to you through form 1099-k . So you will just need to tell the irs that no one stayed over 14 days and provide the prove they request. Do whatever you need to do ( hire management, cleaning companies, co host, contractors for repairs, bookkeepers, etc ) to make sure your airbnb rental is run by others or at least your able to get letters from your help saying they do this and that for you. You must not appear to be active with the property and be able to prove it in order to report the income as unearned in the eyes of ssdi.
Now, if you are on ssi and not ssdi then any income you earn no matter earned or unearned will risk those benefits. I'm assuming ssdi by your question.
Also, I'm not sure if you are trying to rent out a room or an entire house for airbnb. I wrote my response assuming you want to build a real estate airbnb cash flow type business ( which I think you should do. Take advantage of this short time we have in this world and build an empire you can pass down to your family ). If so, just protect yourself with good records, an llc ( another topic but do a joint llc so you can say your partner does all the work and you just provide money for the business. This will tell ssdi you are not actively involved and your income from the llc is passive), hire professionals to handle day to day operations, and don't do anything for the rental that would risk your benefits. When you file taxes assuming you don't follow the 14 day rule make sure you file the rental income on form schedule E. This is for passive( unearned ) income. Schedule C is for self employment income which is earned income. So bottom line in my opinion is get your property on airbnb, don't rent it for more than 14 days to any one person at a time, don't file taxes at all if you stick to the 14 day rule, or use schedule E if needed, form an llc with a friend or family member to " handle everything", get a team in place to run this cash flow machine, build a real estate empire to pass down to future generations, live your best life and take care of yourself/family. I am not a lawyer, accountant, real estate agent or anything like that. Please get legal advise for everything I said before jumping in. But by me being a disabled veteran with the same concerns you have with earned and unearned income, the above is what I'd recommend by my research and experience. I hope helps you and others get more income without risking the ssdi benefits.
