Schedule E Workbook for Airbnb Hosts – CPA Tax Prep Template Excel

Hand your CPA a finished Schedule E. Year-end tax-prep workbook for Airbnb and STR hosts — every Schedule E line pre-mapped, depreciation included, audit-defense block built in.

Your CPA opens your spreadsheet in March. Two hours later, she texts: "your categories
don't map to Schedule E — I rebuilt it." Three hours billable. Or you do your own taxes
in TurboTax, hit Line 5 (Rents received), and stare blankly at the screen because your
Airbnb summary, Vrbo summary, and Direct-booking spreadsheet don't agree.

This workbook is the bridge. It turns a year of bookings, expenses, and depreciation
into a single Schedule E summary tab — with line numbers, audit-defense flags, and a
ready-to-print page your CPA copies straight into the form.

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WHAT'S INCLUDED
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📋 Year-End Workbook Wizard
· Walks you through every Schedule E line in order
· 17 expense categories pre-mapped to Schedule E Part I lines (3-26)
· Multi-channel revenue rollup (Airbnb / VRBO / Booking.com / Direct)
· Personal-use day tracker — auto-flags Pub 527's 14-day / 10% threshold

📋 Depreciation Worksheet
· 27.5-year straight-line residential rental
· Mid-month convention for the in-service year
· Auto-fills Schedule E Line 20

📋 Schedule E Summary Tab (CPA hand-off)
· IRS Schedule E Part I line totals (Lines 3–26a)
· Print-ready, single page, letter portrait
· Net income with green/red conditional formatting

📋 Audit-Defense Block
· STR loophole eligibility (IRC §469) — avg stay ≤ 7 days flag
· 14-day / 10% personal-use test (Pub 527)
· QBI safe-harbor flag (§199A) — 250+ service hours
· Schedule E vs. Schedule C routing footnote

📋 Settings + Archive
· Active tax year (drives every date filter)
· Schedule E vs Schedule C classification dropdown
· Year-end archive ritual — duplicate this file, mark "filed", start fresh

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WHY STR HOSTS NEED THIS
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Two specific problems every Schedule E filer hits in March:

1. CATEGORY DRIFT — your spreadsheet uses "internet," "Wi-Fi," "comcast,"
and "ISP" all in different rows. Your CPA bills you to clean it up.

2. AUDIT-DEFENSE DEAD ZONES — STR loophole? Personal-use threshold?
QBI safe harbor? Most CPAs ask, most hosts don't know, and you both
end up assuming it doesn't apply (it usually does — these are big).

This workbook handles both. Categories are dropdown-enforced. Audit-defense
checks fire automatically based on your numbers. Hand the file to your CPA
in one piece.

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WHO THIS IS FOR
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· Airbnb / VRBO / direct-booking hosts filing Schedule E
· Single-property and small-portfolio hosts (1-3 rentals)
· Anyone whose CPA charges by the hour to "clean up" their spreadsheet
· DIY filers using TurboTax / FreeTaxUSA who need clean Schedule E numbers
· First-year hosts who've never filed Schedule E before

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HOW IT WORKS
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1. Open the workbook in January after year-end. Pre-loaded with sample data.
2. Set the active tax year on the Settings tab.
3. Paste your year's bookings into the Revenue Log (or use TAX-002 if you tracked there).
4. Paste your year's expenses into the Expense Log, picking from the dropdown for each.
5. Open the Depreciation tab — confirm your in-service date and land value.
6. Open Schedule E Summary. Print. Hand to CPA, or copy into TurboTax line by line.

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NEED MULTI-PROPERTY OR COST SEG?
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This is the single-property Schedule E year-end tool. Multi-property
consolidation, asset-by-asset depreciation, and cost-segregation overlay
live in the Portfolio Master at thestrledger.com/portfolio-master ($97),
or save with the Portfolio Bundle ($397).

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FILE COMPATIBILITY
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✅ Microsoft Excel 2016+ (Windows and Mac)
✅ Microsoft Excel 365
✅ Google Sheets

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REFUNDS + SUPPORT
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14-day refund, no questions asked. Email hello [!at] thestrledger.com — real humans,
fast replies.

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ABOUT THE STR LEDGER
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Business-grade Excel systems for serious short-term rental hosts.
Full template library at thestrledger.com.

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⚠ Digital product. Not tax advice. Consult your CPA. IRS Pub 527 (Residential Rental Property)
is the canonical reference for Schedule E filers.