I rented rooms in the apartment I rent from a landlord half the year on AirBnB & half to roommates for much less money. Do I include rent from roommates on Schedule E?

[ashley3]

To be clear, I am not the owner of my apartment. I live in it, and usually have roommates who I collect rent from and then send in a single check to my landlord. For some of the year (several months), I rented some of the rooms to short-term guests via AirBnB.  I am trying to figure out if I should exclude the money collected from my roommates, and mark the days they lived with me as personal use days or not.

Also, turbotax asks me if I am an "active participant" in my apartment unit (owning at least 10% of the property and making management decisions).  I'm not sure how to mark this as I am not the owner of the apartment. I did decide who to rent to on AirBnB though. 

I'm reporting this stuff on Schedule E.  

[MichaelDC · Accepted solution]

As long as you're not getting rent from your roommates equal to or more than what rent for a comparable room would go for in your area, you can assume that arrangement to be a "cost-sharing" and not report it.

If you are listing your property on Airbnb and do not own it (i.e., you are a renter) you should enter that you own it, and that you are an active participant.

Please feel free to post any additional details or questions in the comment section.

See the full answer with instructions here:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/5987613