The 30-second pitch
Most STR P&L spreadsheets are 4 columns wide and don’t map to IRS Schedule E. Your CPA then re-keys 12 months of expenses into their software, charges you for the time, and asks you what counts as “Repairs” vs “Maintenance” anyway.
This workbook maps every category to a Schedule E line. Type expenses once; the Summary tab prints what your CPA needs.
Who it’s for
- Single-property hosts who want a CPA-ready year-end summary without paying the CPA to build it
- Hosts considering the STR loophole and wanting to confirm eligibility before filing
- Anyone whose current “P&L” is bank statements in a folder
Math that earns the price
CPA hourly is $150–$300. Saving 1 hour of clean-up at year-end recovers $27 several times over. The first year you find a missed deduction (mileage, depreciation timing, the home-office split), the workbook returns 10× cost in deductions.
Related
- The Schedule E Workbook
- Depreciation Tracker (Full MACRS)
- Schedule C Tax Prep Workbook (Active STR)
- The 1099-NEC Tracker
- Cost Segregation DIY Workbook
What's inside
- Welcome — how the workbook maps to IRS Schedule E. Print-ready, single page.
- Property Info — address, purchase price, closing costs, loan terms, in-service date, days rented, personal-use days. Auto-flags Pub 527's 14-day / 10% threshold.
- Revenue Log — 1,000-row capacity. Date, guest, channel (Airbnb / VRBO / Booking.com / Direct / Other), gross, platform fee, cleaning fee collected, net, nights.
- Expense Log — 2,000-row capacity. 17 expense categories, all Schedule E line-mapped, dropdown-enforced.
- Monthly P&L — 12 months × 17 categories. Net income with conditional formatting. Donut chart of expense composition.
- Depreciation — straight-line 27.5-yr residential rental, mid-month convention. Pulls cost basis from Property Info. Auto-fills Schedule E Line 20.
- Schedule E Summary — IRS Schedule E Part I line totals (Lines 3–26a). Audit-defense block: STR loophole eligibility (IRC §469), 14-day personal-use test (Pub 527), QBI safe-harbor flag (§199A).
- Settings — active tax year, Schedule E vs Schedule C classification, 17-category dropdown source, year-end archive ritual.
FAQ
- Excel or Google Sheets?
- Both. Edit in Excel; opens in Google Sheets with formulas and conditional formatting preserved.
- Does it handle the STR loophole (IRC §469) eligibility check?
- Yes. The Settings tab toggles Schedule E vs Schedule C; the Schedule E Summary tab flags STR-loophole eligibility based on average-stay-under-7-nights and material-participation tests.
- Multiple properties?
- This SKU is single-property. For a portfolio P&L use TAX-004 (Schedule E Workbook) which handles multi-property roll-up.
- Will my CPA take it?
- The Schedule E Summary tab is the single page your CPA will ask for. Print it or PDF it and hand it over. Line numbers match Schedule E exactly.
- What's your refund policy?
- 14 days, no questions. Email hello@thestrledger.com.
Get the workbook
Format: Excel .xlsx + how-to PDF. Excel 2016+, Excel 365, Google Sheets compatible. Instant download after checkout. 14-day refund, no questions. Lifetime updates within v1.