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Short-term lets

Short-term let tax, made simple

Whether you host on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com or take direct bookings, the rules changed: FHL is gone, platforms report your income to HMRC, and MTD quarterly updates are phasing in. Here's the full picture.

Booking platforms now reports your income to HMRC

Under the UK’s reporting rules for digital platforms on GOV.UK, booking platforms collect and verify their UK hosts’ details and report their income to HMRC every January. This isn’t a new tax — but it does mean HMRC sees a platform’s version of your earnings. The practical takeaway: your own records should be gross-accurate and match the platform’s figures, not just your bank payouts.

Does Making Tax Digital apply to you?

MTD for Income Tax is phased in by gross qualifying income — your rental income before expenses, across all your property (short and long lets), plus any self-employment turnover: over £50,000 from April 2026, over £30,000 from April 2027, and over £20,000 from April 2028. A busy short-term let can pass these thresholds well before it feels like a “big” business — occupancy of a single popular listing can clear £20,000 gross.

Check if and when MTD applies to you →

Gross income, not payouts — the mistake to avoid

Platforms pay you net: the booking total minus service fees. HMRC wants the gross booking income declared, with the fees claimed as an expense. Working from bank payouts alone understates both sides. That’s exactly what Quarterwise’s import fixes: it reads your earnings report and records gross income and fees separately, automatically.

Import your platform earnings in minutes

  1. Download the earnings or payout report from each platform you host on (CSV or Excel).
  2. Hosts on several platforms: import each file — listings map to the same property, and duplicates are skipped automatically.
  3. In Quarterwise, go to Import, upload the file, match your listings to your properties once — and your income and fees are recorded, gross and HMRC-ready. Re-imports skip anything already recorded, so overlapping exports never double-count.

The rules changed in April 2025

The furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished from April 2025 — short-term let income is now ordinary UK property income, with the same expense categories and the same MTD timetable as any other rental. And if you host in your own home, rent-a-room relief (up to £7,500 a year tax-free) may apply instead of expense-based accounting — Quarterwise flags this when you mark a listing as a room in your home.

Written by the Quarterwise team. Figures sourced from GOV.UK and current at July 2026. This is general information, not tax advice — for advice on your specific circumstances, speak to a qualified adviser or HMRC.

Common questions

Does my booking platform really tell HMRC about my income?
Yes. Under the UK's reporting rules for digital platforms, booking platforms collect and verify sellers' details and report their income to HMRC every January. That doesn't change what tax you owe — it means HMRC can compare what the platform reports with what you declare, so accurate records matter more than ever.
Do short-term let hosts fall under Making Tax Digital?
If your gross property income (before expenses, across all your properties — long and short lets combined, plus any self-employment turnover) passes the MTD threshold, yes: over £50,000 from April 2026, over £30,000 from April 2027, and over £20,000 from April 2028. It is a gross income test, not profit.
Do I report what I received in payouts, or the full booking amount?
The full (gross) amount. Platform service fees and commission are claimed separately as expenses. Reporting net payouts understates both your income and your expenses — and will not match what the platform reports to HMRC.
What happened to the furnished holiday lettings (FHL) rules?
The FHL regime was abolished from April 2025. Short-term let income is now taxed as ordinary UK property income — same expense categories and same MTD treatment as any other rental.
I host on more than one platform — how do I keep records straight?
Import each platform’s file into Quarterwise. Listings from different platforms can map to the same property, each import remembers its mapping, and the reconciliation view shows per-platform totals — approximately what each platform will report to HMRC about you.
What about direct bookings outside any platform?
Record them like any other rental income — manually or via the spreadsheet import if you keep your own records. Direct bookings are not platform-reported, but they absolutely count toward your qualifying income for MTD.

More: MTD guides for landlords · your MTD deadlines · all free tools

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