Hosting on Airbnb means renting a room, a suite or a whole home to travellers for short stays. What a listing earns depends on its price, how many nights it books and its costs; what it is allowed to do depends on provincial and municipal rules; and the income is taxed under rules written specifically for short-term rentals. This page walks through each. It is part of the side hustles hub; passive income ideas compares renting space with other ways to earn from money you already have, and best side hustles compares the options that trade time for pay.
How a booking becomes a payout
You list the space with its price, a cleaning fee if you charge one, house rules and an availability calendar. Guests book and pay through Airbnb, and Airbnb pays you after taking its service fee.
Airbnb has two fee structures for stays and is moving every home host to the second one:
| Structure | Who pays the fee | Most hosts pay |
|---|---|---|
| Split fee (being phased out) | The host pays a host fee and the guest pays a separate guest fee | 3% host fee |
| Single fee | The whole fee comes out of the host’s payout | 15.5% |
The fee is a percentage of the nightly price and any fees charged by the host, not including the guest service fee or taxes (Airbnb service fees). Airbnb says it can change its fees at any time, so the host dashboard shows the fee that applies to each reservation.
A hypothetical month for a one-bedroom suite on the single fee: 15 nights booked at $150 across five stays, an $80 cleaning fee charged on each stay, $70 paid to a cleaner per stay and $10 of supplies per stay.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Nightly price × nights | $2,250 |
| Cleaning fees charged to guests | $400 |
| Amount the fee is calculated on | $2,650 |
| Airbnb service fee (15.5%) | −$410.75 |
| Payout | $2,239.25 |
| Cleaner | −$350 |
| Supplies | −$50 |
| Left before utilities, insurance, the cost of the space and income tax | $1,839.25 |
GST/HST and local accommodation taxes charged to guests are on top of these amounts; the tax section below covers who collects them.
Rules to check before listing
Provincial and municipal rules. Whether you can list, what kind of home, for how many nights and with what registration is set by the province and the municipality, and the rules differ from city to city. Airbnb rules by city covers licensing, principal residence requirements, night limits, accommodation taxes and fines for the major cities. Breaking them also has a tax cost (see non-compliant rentals below).
Your building, lease and mortgage. A condo corporation or strata can have its own bylaws on short-term rentals, a tenant needs to check what the lease allows, and a mortgage’s terms can restrict how the property is used. Airbnb mortgage rules covers the lender’s side.
Insurance. Airbnb’s AirCover for Hosts includes US$3 million of host damage protection and US$1 million of liability insurance, with exclusions listed in Airbnb’s help centre. Your own home or tenant insurer decides separately whether it covers short-term rental use; home insurance explains what to ask.
Taxes on Airbnb income
The tax pages own the detail: Airbnb host tax guide and Airbnb and short-term rental tax rules. The rules that shape a hosting decision:
Rental income or business income
The CRA looks at the services you provide. In most cases, rent with basic services only (heat, light, parking, laundry facilities) is income from property, reported on Form T776; but “if you provide additional services to tenants, such as cleaning, security, and meals, you may be carrying on a business. The more services you provide, the greater the chance that your rental operation is a business”, and business income goes on Form T2125. Business income is self-employment income for the CPP. You contribute to the CPP if you are over 18, work in Canada outside Quebec and earn more than $3,500 a year; contributions stop when you turn 70, and from 65 someone already receiving a CPP or QPP retirement pension can choose to stop. How to report rental income covers the T776 and its expenses.
A non-compliant rental loses its deductions
Section 67.7 of the Income Tax Act denies the expenses of a short-term rental for the days it is non-compliant:
- A short-term rental is a residential property rented or offered for rent for less than 90 consecutive days.
- It is non-compliant on any day the province or municipality doesn't permit a short-term rental at that location.
- It is also non-compliant on any day the province or municipality requires registration, a licence or a permit and the rental doesn't meet all of those requirements.
- The amount you can't deduct is the year's short-term rental expenses multiplied by the non-compliant days and divided by the days it was a short-term rental.
- Capital cost allowance for those days is denied the same way as other expenses.
- For 2024, a rental that met all its registration, licence and permit requirements by December 31, 2024 is treated as compliant for the whole year.
On Form T776 the amounts go on lines 9366 and 9367 (CRA Guide T4036).
GST/HST
For GST/HST, taxable short-term accommodation is a unit rented to someone who will stay in it continuously for less than one month and that costs more than $20 a night. Who charges it depends on registration (CRA, platform-based short-term accommodation):
- A host who isn’t registered: the platform operator, such as Airbnb, charges and collects the GST/HST on the stay. These platform rules took effect on July 1, 2021.
- A registered host: charges and collects GST/HST on their own stays, including stays booked through a platform.
When a host has to register: You have to register for the GST/HST once you make taxable sales in Canada and are no longer a small supplier: that happens when your taxable sales go over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter (register from that sale) or over the last 4 consecutive calendar quarters (by the end of the month after that quarter); below that you can register voluntarily. Provincial and municipal accommodation taxes are separate; Airbnb rules by city lists them.
Selling the home later
Renting part or all of your home can change how much of the gain on a sale is tax-free. Principal residence exemption with partial rental covers the rules.
Related guides
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 26, 2026 and October 1, 2026. How we check facts.
- Airbnb: Airbnb: Vacation Rentals, Cabins, Beach Houses, Unique Homes & Experiences
- Canada Revenue Agency: Platform-based short-term accommodation: GST/HST for digital-economy businesses
- Canada Revenue Agency: The Canada Pension Plan enhancement
- Canada Revenue Agency: Employers’ Guide – Payroll Deductions and Remittances
- Canada Revenue Agency: Rental Income
- Canada Revenue Agency: When to register for and start charging the GST/HST
- Government of Canada: Election to Stop Contributing to the Canada Pension Plan or Revocation of a Prior Election
- Government of Canada: CPP: How much you could receive
- Justice Laws (Canada): Income Tax Act