Tax on your Airbnb? Only on what's left

Your Airbnb pays out every month. Then April comes, and a thought hits: does LHDN want some of this?

Yes. This guide is for owners of a home in Johor Bahru on Airbnb, living in Malaysia or Singapore. The rules are the same anywhere in Malaysia.

This is general information, not tax advice. For your own form, talk to a tax agent.

Is Airbnb income taxed in Malaysia? Yes, here's how

Money from guests is income, like a salary. LHDN (the Inland Revenue Board, Malaysia's tax office) taxes it once a year.

But LHDN has 2 boxes for money from letting a home. Which box you're in changes what you can take off.

• Rent: you let the home, and that's it.
• Business: you also run services for the whole building, like its lifts, lobby, corridors and car park.

Rent or business? Why we think 1 or 2 condos are rent

"Comprehensively" is a big word. LHDN's list covers the whole building: the structure, stairs, lifts, lobby, drains, car park and gardens. Security on its own doesn't count.

In a condo, you don't do any of that. The management office does, paid by your maintenance fee.

LHDN has a close example. An owner lets 2 apartments to tenants, who use the pool and tennis court. The management keeps those up, so the owner's letting is rent, not business.

We think a cleaner for the inside of your own unit isn't the whole building. So 1 or 2 condos on Airbnb stay in the rent box, even with a manager.

What can I take off? Costs that lower your tax

You pay tax only on what's left after costs. Under the rent box, a cost comes off if you paid it only to earn this rent.

LHDN gives these examples in paragraph 8.2:

• Assessment (cukai pintu) to the council, and quit rent (cukai tanah) to the land office
• Loan interest on the home (the interest, not the part that pays down the loan)
• Fire insurance on the home
• Collecting the rent
• Renewing a tenancy or changing tenant
• Repairs that keep the home as it was

Worn-out furniture. When you replace a sofa or an aircon, that cost comes off too (paragraph 12).

Other costs. The list is only examples. Your maintenance fee, bills, cleaning or Airbnb's host fee may count if you paid them only to earn the rent. Ask your tax agent which ones.

The costs owners think count, but don't

Setting up. Ads, legal fees and agent fees to get your very first tenant don't come off.

Think of a nasi lemak stall. Building the stall is a one-off; the rice and eggs used each day are running costs. Under the rent box, LHDN treats your setup costs like the stall: they never come off.

The first furniture. Our reading: the rent box only takes off replacing furniture, so your first sofa doesn't come off. A new one when it breaks is like buying more rice: it does.

Under the business box you'd take a slice of it off each year instead, called capital allowance. Rent doesn't get that (paragraphs 10.1 and 12).

Months before you start. Costs from before the home is first let don't count. In the first year, only the assessment for the months after your first guest comes off.

How much tax will I pay? Unit A, worked out

Here's Unit A, made up for this guide: a JB condo on Airbnb for a full year.

Start with 1 month: about RM4,000 comes in, about RM1,940 goes on costs, and about RM2,060 is left. Now the full year.

Our reading: the manager fee is a cost of collecting the rent. We charge one, so we have a stake here.

We've also started after Airbnb's fee. Ask your tax agent before you count either.

That RM24,750 is what LHDN taxes. How much you pay depends on where you live, not your passport.

You live in Malaysia. It's added to your salary and other income. Tax goes up in steps, like stairs, and your rent sits on your top step.

Your other income counts after reliefs: the amounts LHDN lets you take off first. If that's between RM100,000 and RM375,000, your top step is 25%, and Unit A's tax is about RM6,188.

You live in Singapore. If you spend fewer than 182 days a year in Malaysia, you are usually a non-resident, even as a Malaysian. You pay a flat 30%: RM7,425 on Unit A.

Work out the tax on your Airbnb

It starts on Unit A, our made-up example. Type in your own numbers.

A year of rent

Rent receivedYour payouts, after Airbnb's feeRM

Costs for the year

Manager feeYour monthly statements; check with your tax agentRM Loan interestYour bank's yearly letterRM Assessment and quit rentThe council and land office noticesRM Fire insuranceYour policyRM Repairs and replaced furnitureYour receiptsRM Other costs your tax agent allowsMaintenance fee, bills, cleaningRM

Where you live

Malaysia, 182 days or more a year Singapore or elsewhere (non-resident)

Your other income, after reliefsNot counting this rent. LHDN calls it chargeable incomeRM

Left to tax

RM24,750

RM48,000 rent − RM23,250 costs

Tax on your Airbnb

RM6,188

RM24,750 × 25%, your top band

Set aside each month

RM516

RM6,188 ÷ 12

Live in Singapore? What a non-resident owner must do

The home is in Malaysia, so the rent is Malaysian income. You file it in Malaysia, on Form e-M (for non-residents), even if the money goes to a Singapore bank.

First you need a Malaysian tax number. If you're a Malaysian or a PR aged 18 or over, you already have one. Others apply online on e-Daftar, LHDN's sign-up page, with a passport.

A flat 30% sounds heavy, but it's on what's left after costs, not on the full payout. Keep good records and the tax shrinks.

Singapore usually doesn't tax it again. IRAS says money from overseas is generally not taxed in Singapore. One exception is money that comes through a Singapore partnership.

For the rest of owning from across the Causeway, see how to manage a JB condo from Singapore.

Do I need to charge guests 8% service tax?

Probably not. Service tax on stays only kicks in once your stays bring in more than RM500,000 in 12 months.

That's about RM1,370 every night of the year. Few single condos come close.

Cross that line and you must register, charge 8%, and file a return every 2 months.

When and how to file

Malaysia's tax year runs from 1 Jan to 31 Dec. LHDN calls it the year of assessment: YA 2026 is the 2026 tax year, filed in 2027 on LHDN's e-Filing.

• Living in Malaysia: Form e-BE if you have no business income, or Form e-B if you do.
• Non-resident: Form e-M.
• Deadline with no business income: 30 Apr, with 15 days' grace on e-Filing.
• Deadline with any business income: 30 Jun, with 15 days' grace on e-Filing.

File late and LHDN can add 15% of the tax, rising to 30% and then 45% the later you are. On a non-resident's RM7,425, that's about RM1,114 to RM3,341.

Pay late and it adds 10%. Not filing at all is an offence: a fine from RM200 to RM20,000, up to 6 months' jail, or both.

Your checklist for YA 2026:

• Keep every Airbnb payout and manager statement.
• Keep receipts for assessment, quit rent, insurance and repairs.
• Ask your bank for a yearly loan interest letter.
• Note which months the home was let or ready to let.
• Take it all to a tax agent well before 30 Apr 2027.

How we know this

We read all 28 pages of LHDN's Public Ruling 12/2018 on rent. We checked rates, forms, dates and fines on LHDN's own pages. Service tax comes from the customs MySST site, and Singapore's side from IRAS.

The rates are LHDN's for YA 2023 to 2025, the latest it listed on 25 Oct 2026. Check LHDN's site for the year you file.

Questions owners ask

Do I pay tax if my Airbnb made a loss?

If your costs are more than the rent, there is no rent to tax that year. In the rent box, the loss can't lower the tax on your salary. It can't be carried into a later year either (Public Ruling 12/2018, paragraph 7, Examples 16 and 17).

Does Airbnb take tax off before it pays me?

Not according to Airbnb's own guide for Malaysia, which says filing and paying the tax is your job.

I own 2 units in JB. Do I file them separately?

No, if both are in the rent box and both have had a guest. LHDN puts them in 1 pot (paragraph 7.1, Examples 14 and 15): add up all the rent, then take off all the costs. A loss on one can then cover a profit on the other in the same year.

Sources: Letting income as rent (paragraph 4(d)) or business (paragraph 4(a)), the meaning of "comprehensively and actively", security alone not counting, Example 7 on apartment units, allowed costs, first-tenant costs, costs while empty, grouping several homes, losses (Examples 16, 17 and 28), capital allowance and replacing furniture: LHDN Public Ruling 12/2018, Income from Letting of Real Property, 19 Dec 2018, paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12. Rates for YA 2023 to 2025: LHDN tax rates. Non-resident flat 30%: LHDN, introduction to individual income tax. Residence tests (182 days, 90 days), forms e-BE, e-B and e-M, and the 15%, 30% and 45% late-filing penalties: LHDN, tax treatment of residents and non-residents. Deadlines and the 15-day e-Filing grace: LHDN, return form filing programme for 2026. 10% for paying late: LHDN, penalty on late payment. Fine or jail for not filing, section 112(1): LHDN, offences. Tax numbers and e-Daftar: LHDN, registration. Service tax on accommodation, 8% and the RM500,000 threshold: MySST, registering a business, updated 19 Jul 2026; returns every 2 months: MySST, filing of returns. Airbnb reporting host income: Airbnb, Malaysia: tax considerations on short-term lettings, Nov 2024. Singapore treatment of overseas income: IRAS, income received from overseas. Unit A and all its figures are made up for this guide. Simon runs RoomGuru, which has managed homes in Johor Bahru on Airbnb since 2023. This is general information, not tax advice.