@AmeliesUncle wrote:
If there are ANY rental days (and no personal days), it is 100% rental. But if there are zero of each, then the IRS and courts look at "intent". Intent can sometimes be difficult to prove.....
That makes sense, absolutely and positively, with respect to ANY rental days and no personal days equals 100% rental.
However, the issue may arise as to whether those "idle days" (between rentals) are had been used for personal purposes. For example, if a taxpayer has a "vacation rental" (short-term) and claims 150 days of rental use per year and zero personal use days, it may be difficult for the taxpayer to show that they actually had zero personal use days (tough to prove a negative).
I have this exact same scenario, personally. We have a house, strictly a short-term rental with no personal use whatsoever. Regardless, the house is around 30-45 minutes from our primary residence and it would be tough to prove we weren't using it for personal purposes on any day when there were no renters on the premises.
