Short-term rental

What it means

Short-term rental means letting a flat, house, cottage or room to tourists and visitors for a few nights, most often through online platforms. It differs from ordinary residential letting in the short stays, the services involved, such as cleaning and changing bed linen, and the frequent turnover of guests.

For income tax the key question is whether it is merely letting space or an accommodation service. If the landlord provides services like an accommodation business, the income is usually treated as business income and a trade licence is needed. Simple letting may count as rental income.

Short-term rental brings other duties too: accommodation tax to the municipality, guest records and reporting of foreign guests, the building’s house rules and, at higher income, VAT, where accommodation services have a special regime.

How it works in practice

When a client starts out, we check whether a trade licence and registration with the tax office and the municipality are needed and how income will be recorded. If guests pay cash directly, the takings may have to be recorded in the e-kasa system.

Above a certain volume, platforms report sellers and their income to the tax administration under the DAC7 rules. The tax office therefore knows how much a landlord earned through a platform and compares it with the return. Income must be declared in full, not net of the platform’s commission.

Costs such as energy, cleaning, furnishings, platform commissions and depreciation are claimed according to the type of income. If the landlord also lives in the flat for part of the year, costs are reduced proportionally. Invoices from foreign platforms can trigger a duty to register for VAT under Section 7a.

What to watch out for

The most common mistake is thinking platform income is “private letting” with no obligations. A missing trade licence, undeclared income and uncollected accommodation tax add up at an audit, and the back tax and fines can be high.

The building’s and municipality’s rules are a risk too. Some municipalities restrict short-term rentals, and flat owners can adopt house rules that make them harder. Before buying a flat to let, it is worth checking these rules.