1. Your Airbnb transaction history
The Transaction history CSV from Airbnb. Columns are matched by name. Include the Payout rows for the same date range so the rows can be compared with what was deposited; otherwise type the total deposited in the box below.
Choose a file or paste the text, then click Read, check and build journals.
Result
Deposit check
| Group | Latest date | File states | Journals clear | Agrees |
|---|
Journals
| Journal | Date | Account | Debit | Credit | Memo |
|---|
Download
The accounts must already exist in your software under these names or codes. Post the journals, then match each bank deposit to Airbnb clearing.
The model, and what it leaves out
- Rows: each Reservation row carries Gross earnings (nightly rate plus cleaning fee), the Service fee Airbnb keeps, optionally a Fast pay fee, and the Amount paid to you. Other row types are Payout, Pass Through Tax, Resolution Adjustment and similar. Amounts are read to cents.
- Payout check: a reservation's gross less its fees must equal its Amount; a difference is flagged and journalled to uncategorised. The file's Payout rows are totalled and compared with all the other rows; a difference is usually timing (earned, not yet paid, or paid from before the file starts) and is reported as a warning with the amount clearing will hold.
- Categories: gross less cleaning to rental income, the cleaning fee to cleaning income, Airbnb's fees to host fees, a negative-gross reservation to refunds, Pass Through Tax to an occupancy tax payable, co-host payouts to their own expense, adjustments and credits to one adjustments line. Anything else goes to an uncategorised account and is listed.
- Month split: by the transaction date (or check-in date if you choose). A journal is dated the month end, or the file's last date for the last month. Each journal balances to Airbnb clearing.
- Not checked: that the export agrees with your Airbnb dashboard or your books, tax treatment anywhere (occupancy tax Airbnb collects and remits is not in your payout and is left out), currency conversion between earning and payout, and that the accounts exist in your software.
Common questions
How do I record Airbnb earnings in QuickBooks or Xero?
Download the Transaction history CSV from Airbnb (Menu > Earnings > Transaction history), paste it here and press Read, check and build journals. The page splits every reservation into rental income, cleaning fees and Airbnb's host service fee, books cancellations and adjustments on their own lines, books tax Airbnb paid across for you as a liability, and writes a journal per month that balances to an Airbnb clearing account.
Why book gross earnings and fees instead of the payout?
An Airbnb payout is net of Airbnb's host service fee and any cancellations or adjustments. Booking only the deposit as income understates revenue and hides what Airbnb costs you, and a payout that spans two months pushes one month's stays into the next. This page books income, fees and adjustments separately in the month they belong to, and each deposit clears the Airbnb clearing account.
Which month does a reservation belong to?
By default the month of the transaction date in the file (cash basis, when Airbnb paid it). If you keep your books on stay dates, switch the basis to check-in date and each reservation lands in the month the guest arrives.
What happens to occupancy taxes?
Occupancy taxes Airbnb collects and remits itself are shown in the file but are not in your payout, so they are left out of the journal and counted in a note. Tax Airbnb pays across to you to remit (Pass Through Tax rows) is booked to an occupancy tax payable account, not filed.
What is the Airbnb clearing account?
A holding account. Each journal debits or credits it with that month's net earnings, and each payout, when it arrives in your bank, is matched against it. When every reservation is paid out, the clearing account returns to zero, which is the cheap proof that nothing was missed.
Which accounting software can I import to?
Xero (manual journal CSV), QuickBooks Online (journal entry CSV), QuickBooks Desktop (IIF general journal) and a plain CSV for anything else. You can rename the accounts for each category before downloading so they match your chart of accounts.
Is it safe to paste an Airbnb export into a web page?
The page runs in your browser, the file is read locally and nothing is uploaded; a test in the code asserts there are no network calls. The export carries guest names; delete that column if you would rather not have it on screen, because the page only needs the dates, types, amounts, fees and confirmation codes.
What does this not check?
Whether the export matches your Airbnb dashboard or your books, tax treatment in any jurisdiction, currencies converted between earning and payout, and account names or codes that must already exist in your accounting software.