HST: the $30,000 line most hosts cross
Rent for a month or more is HST-exempt; stays under a month are taxable at 13% in Ontario. That one distinction drives everything else on this page. Once your taxable revenues pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, registration is mandatory, you charge HST on every stay, and you claim input tax credits on the costs of hosting.
Two details catch people. First, the threshold counts all your taxable revenue as one person, so cleaning fees, a consulting side gig and the STR itself pool into the same $30,000. Second, since July 2021 the platform rules have had Airbnb collecting and remitting GST/HST on bookings for hosts who are not registered. The day you register, that flips: you give the platform your registration number, and charging, remitting and claiming become yours.
Input tax credits are the upside of registration. HST paid on cleaning, linens, platform fees, repairs and the hosting share of utilities comes back, and voluntary registration below the threshold can make sense in a heavy furnishing year for exactly that reason. Note the switch is total: once registered, you charge 13% from the first dollar, not just on revenue past $30,000. We time registration deliberately, set the filing frequency, which for most hosts is annual with instalments once net tax passes $3,000, and file returns that reconcile to the platform's transaction history, because that history is exactly what the CRA compares them against.
Rental income or business income: the services test
The CRA draws the line at services. Provide the basics only, meaning space, heat, laundry access, parking, and STR income is rental income on a T776. Provide meaningful guest services such as cleaning during stays, fresh linens, breakfast or concierge-style help, and it becomes business income on a T2125. Most hosts sit closer to that line than they assume.
The label changes real outcomes: business income triggers CPP contributions on the profit, both kinds create RRSP room, and for an incorporated host the same analysis shapes the T2. We settle the classification once, document the reasons, and keep it consistent instead of letting it drift from year to year.
Two rentals, two tax worlds
| Question | Long-term tenant | Short-term stays |
|---|---|---|
| HST on the rent | Exempt, no input tax credits | 13% once registered, ITCs available |
| Counts toward the $30,000 threshold | No | Yes, cleaning fees included |
| Municipal accommodation tax | No | Yes in Toronto and a growing list of municipalities |
| Usual income form | T776 | T776 or T2125, by the services test |
| Expense rules | Ordinary | Denied for municipally non-compliant days since 2024 |
That last row is the 2024 federal rule denying every deduction, interest and CCA included, for days a short-term rental operates offside its municipal licensing. It is a planning problem before it is a filing problem, and our Tax Planning & Advisory work treats it in depth; at filing time our job is confirming your licence facts before we claim a single expense.
Deductions and CCA, claimed with the exit in mind
The ordinary deductions are straightforward: platform fees, cleaning, supplies, insurance, advertising, and the hosting share of utilities and mortgage interest. CCA is where judgment enters. Furniture and appliances sit in Class 8 at 20% declining balance, the building itself in Class 1 at 4%, and CCA on a rental property cannot create or deepen a loss.
On a home-share we are slower to claim CCA at all. Depreciating the hosted part of your house undermines the principal residence exemption on that portion, so a deduction worth a few hundred dollars today can cost real money at sale. We run that arithmetic before ticking the box.
Filed on time, defended when asked
Self-employed hosts file by June 15 with tax payable April 30; instalments start once net tax owing tops $3,000 in the current year and one of the two before it; the HST return runs on its own calendar. We manage the full set through Corporate Tax Filing for incorporated hosts and Personal Tax Filing for individuals, from our Mississauga office. And because platform data makes short-term rentals easy for the CRA to spot-check, we build files that expect questions, with CRA Audit & Review Support behind them if a letter arrives.
Source: CRA — GST/HST for businesses.
