Can I claim hotels as rent? I stayed in hotels for a large portion of 2020 with no personal residence.

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June 27, 2021
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DoninGA

Employee

Rent paid as a renter is not deductible on a tax return.

Korten2

Some state tax returns do allow a renters deduction. A person just has to search or call their local Department of revenue. This is for Indiana.

You may be able to deduct up to $3,000 ($1,500 if married filing separately) of the rent paid on your Indiana home. You may be able to take this deduction if: You paid rent on your principal place of residence, and. The place you rented was subject to Indiana property tax.

https://www.in.gov › filing-my-taxes

ThomasM125

Most of the time you have to list information regarding the landlord, which would be hard to do if you are staying in a motel.

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rjs

Employee

There is no deduction for rent on a federal tax return. If you are asking about a renter's credit or deduction on a state tax return, you would have to check the rules for the particular state that you lived in. Every state has different rules.

Carl11_2

Employee

Most hotel rooms won't qualify as a residence for the renter's credit, since the room does not have it's own separate bathing *and* cooking facilities. Without a kitchen, such a claim probably won't cut it.

M-MTax

Most hotel rooms won't qualify as a residence for the renter's credit, since the room does not have it's own separate bathing *and* cooking facilities

That's part of the IRS definition for "dwelling unit" and probably doesn't apply to a state's credit for rent. In MA for example you can possibly get a credit for rent paid to a hotel, motel, or rooming house as long as some sort of agreement exists that creates a landlord-tenant relationship.

Opus 17

Employee

There is no deduction for "Rent" on a federal tax return.

Some states have a renter's credit. I would expect that hotel costs would not qualify as rent for a state renter's credit, but you would have to research the rules of the specific state and specific credit.

Hotel costs can sometimes be business expenses if you are required to travel for business and you are self-employed or an independent contract. The rules are covered in chapter 1 of publication 463.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p463.pdf

Very basically, you can deduct business costs of travel away from your "tax home". The travel must be an ordinary and necessary expense of earning money for your business. Your tax home is the general geographic area (city, etc.) where you earn most of your money. If you have no permanent residence, you might still have a tax home. But if you don't have a tax home, you can't deduct any travel expenses as a business expense because you are never traveling "away from your tax home" if you don't have a tax home.

M-MTax

I would expect that hotel costs would not qualify as rent for a state renter's credit

As written in my other post if a landlord-tenant relationship exists at least MA allows a renter's credit. It doesn't matter whether it's a hotel, motel, apartment building or whatever.

Opus 17

Employee

@M-MTax wrote:

I would expect that hotel costs would not qualify as rent for a state renter's credit

As written in my other post if a landlord-tenant relationship exists at least MA allows a renter's credit. It doesn't matter whether it's a hotel, motel, apartment building or whatever.

But what is required to establish a landlord-tenant relationship in the context of a hotel? I expect the rules are different if we are talking about a week's stay at Disneyworld vs. a 3 month stay at a "residential hotel" in the Bowery.

Also, regarding any state rental credits, I assume that even if there is a landlord-tenant relationship, the landlord or property must be in-state? A Minnesota taxpayer could not use the rental credit on a hotel in Florida, could they? Even if it met the landlord-tenant relationship test.

Korten2

When I lived in Indiana I stayed (lived) in a hotel for 9 months. I called several tax preparers at different places they all said yes you can claim it as a credit on state tax return. Just to be absolutely sure though, I checked with my local Department of Revenue, DOR, they said YES, up to the amount allowed. If it's possible for you go in person it's a lot quicker than waiting on the phone. Just a side note, the federal return does not allow a deduction for rent.