Complete Guide to Shortlet Accounting and Bookkeeping in Nigeria

Your shortlet made money this year. Can you prove how much?

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Take the two-bedroom flat in Lekki from our shortlet tax guide, let at ₦120,000 a night. Here is one month:

One guest also paid a ₦100,000 caution deposit.

Now look at what your account statement shows. Airbnb's payout is worth ₦912,600, not ₦1,080,000. Booking.com's commission turns up weeks later, as an invoice. The direct guests send seven transfers with narrations like "TRF FROM CHIDI O". And the deposit lands looking exactly like income.

Book the statement as it stands and this month is wrong three ways. Revenue is understated by ₦167,400, and turnover is the figure the tax thresholds are measured on. Revenue is overstated by the ₦100,000 deposit you owe back. And seven transfers cannot be matched to a listing or a stay.

This guide covers what to record, how to categorise it, and a monthly routine that turns year-end into a download.

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Key takeaways

• Record every booking gross. Your turnover is what the guest paid; the platform's fee is an expense.
• A caution deposit is not income until you keep some of it.
• A shortlet is a business. You can claim a wider set of costs, and the paperwork runs monthly.
• Separate accounts and same-day records do most of the work for you.

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What shortlet accounting means

Shortlet accounting is keeping three things accurate:

1. Gross booking income, by channel: what every guest paid for every stay, before anyone took a fee.
2. Expenses, by listing: every naira spent to run each flat.
3. A ledger: each of those, dated, categorised and backed by a receipt.

Bookkeeping is the habit of recording them as they happen. Accounting is what you, or your accountant, do with the records: the profit figure, the tax return, the decision about which listing to keep.

Get the bookkeeping right and you file the right numbers and claim every cost you are entitled to. You also find out which listing makes money, which is not always the one with the best occupancy.

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Why shortlet books go wrong

Direct bookings leave no paper trail

A platform booking comes with a statement: guest, dates, price, fee. A direct booking comes with a transfer narration. "TRF FROM CHIDI O" does not tell you which listing, which dates, or whether it was the full amount or a part payment.

Multiply that by every direct guest in a year and your account statement stops being a record of the business.

The payout is not your income

Airbnb now takes its whole service fee, 15.5% for most hosts, out of the payout. A ₦120,000 night pays out ₦101,400 after the fee.

Your income is what the guest paid for the stay. The fee is an expense. Record the payout as income and your turnover comes out smaller than it was, and your books no longer match the platform's earnings report. Turnover is what the tax thresholds are measured on, so that gap matters.

Each platform charges at a different time

Airbnb deducts its fee from each payout. Booking.com sends an invoice at the start of each month for the previous month's commission.

The same kind of cost arrives in two different ways, weeks apart. Book them inconsistently and one month looks too good while the next looks too bad.

VAT that was never yours

Airbnb collects 7.5% VAT on Nigerian stays and pays it over itself. On the month above, that is ₦81,000 the guests paid and Airbnb handled. It belongs in neither your income nor your costs.

Direct bookings carry no such collection. More on that below.

Caution deposits mixed with revenue

A ₦100,000 caution deposit lands and gets counted as income. The guest checks out, the deposit goes back, and your books show a ₦100,000 loss that never happened.

One account for everything

Guest payments, the cleaner's wages, school fees, rent from another property: all through one account. At year-end, separating the business from everything else is guesswork, and a cost you cannot prove is a cost you cannot claim.

If you run long lets and shortlets together, the problem doubles. They are taxed as two different things, and one account cannot tell them apart.

Small costs nobody records

Diesel top-ups, prepaid meter units, toiletries, fresh linen, a cleaner paid in cash, the estate's gate levy. Each one is small. Together they are a real share of your costs, and most go unclaimed because nobody wrote them down.

Fixed costs run on empty nights

Internet, security, service charge and standby power cost the same whether the flat is booked or not. Revenue arrives only on occupied nights. If you do not track these by listing, you cannot see what an empty week costs you.

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How to do shortlet bookkeeping the right way

Step 1: Record gross income by channel

Platform bookings. Take the gross figure from the platform's earnings report, not from the payout. Gross is the listing price plus the cleaning fee. Leave out the VAT Airbnb collected.

Payouts in a foreign currency. Record the naira that arrived and the exchange rate you got. Any conversion or transfer charges are costs. Then check the platform's earnings report against what arrived.

Direct bookings. One entry per booking: guest, listing, dates, amount. Ask direct guests to put their name and check-in date in the transfer narration. That one habit solves most of the paper-trail problem.

Extras. Cleaning fees, late checkout, airport pickup. If the guest paid it, it is income.

Tip: once a month, reconcile each platform's gross bookings against its payouts and invoices. The difference should equal the platform's fees plus any adjustments. If it doesn't, find out why now, while the bookings are fresh.

Step 2: Keep caution deposits out of income

A caution deposit is the guest's money, held against damage. Record it when it arrives and record it again when it goes back.

If you keep part of it for a broken lamp, only that part becomes income, on the day you decide to keep it. The replacement lamp is an expense.

The cleanest way to run this is to hold deposits in their own account. They never touch revenue, and at any moment you can see how much you are holding for guests.

Step 3: Categorise every expense

Shortlet costs fall into three groups.

Per-stay costs. Spent because a guest stayed. Fully claimable.

Running costs. Spent to keep the listing open. Claimable. If you also live in the flat for part of the year, claim only the share that relates to the shortlet.

Capital spend. The furnish-out: beds, sofas, air conditioning, the generator, the inverter, appliances. You claim these through capital allowances, at 20% a year for furniture, fittings and equipment, rather than as a one-off expense. Our shortlet tax guide covers how, including one catch: buy from a supplier who should have charged VAT and didn't, and you cannot claim the allowance.

If you use the flat yourself. Section 98(3) of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 prorates allowances on assets only partly used to earn income. Shortlet the flat for eight months and live in it for four, and you claim eight-twelfths of the allowances.

Tip: record each cost the day you pay it, with a photo of the receipt.

Step 4: Close the books every month

Small errors are easy to fix while the month is fresh and hard to untangle in December. If you operate in Lagos, the consumption tax is filed monthly too.

On the same day each month:

1. Reconcile each platform's gross bookings against its payouts and invoices.
2. Match every direct transfer to a booking.
3. Refund or settle the caution deposit for every stay that ended.
4. Categorise everything left over, and attach the receipts.
5. Check what each listing made this month.
6. Set aside tax for the month, and if you operate in Lagos, the consumption tax you collected.

A month closed on time is a month you never have to reconstruct.

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Shortlet tax in brief

A shortlet is taxed as a business rather than as property income. That widens what you can claim and adds to what you file. Our shortlet tax guide covers it in full. The short version:

• Income tax. You are taxed on profit, which is why every recorded cost matters.
• Company income tax. If you run your shortlets through a company: a small company, with gross turnover of ₦50 million or less and fixed assets of no more than ₦250 million, pays 0%. Above that, 30%, plus a 4% development levy.
• VAT. A small business, with turnover of ₦100 million or less and fixed assets of no more than ₦250 million, is outside VAT altogether. This is a different line from company income tax. Above it, take advice on the bookings you take directly. Airbnb collects VAT on its own bookings.
• Lagos consumption tax. 5% on accommodation, and the Lagos law names short-let apartments explicitly. It is the guest's tax: add it to the bill and keep it out of your income. It is filed monthly with the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service. Outside Lagos, check whether your state runs a similar levy on accommodation.
• Nothing is withheld for you. Shortlet income arrives gross, so set tax aside as you go.
• Keep records for six years. That is the audit window.

What you need at year-end:

• Gross income by channel
• An expense ledger by category
• A register of furniture and equipment, with dates and costs
• A log of caution deposits received, refunded and kept
• The receipts behind all of it

See how Roofteller keeps this ready for you →

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Make shortlet bookkeeping easy with Roofteller

Property-specific accounts

Open accounts for each listing, and for each purpose within it. Give direct guests the listing's account details, and every transfer already belongs to the listing it paid for.

An interest account for reserves. Earn up to 12% a year on idle funds. Interest accrues daily and is paid on the 1st of every month.

Every transaction sorted by property

Payments in and out are recorded against the right listing, dated and categorised. Receipts are stored with each transaction. Past transactions can be brought in from a CSV file, so your books start complete.

Reports by listing

See net cash flow, net operating income and capital expenses for each listing, over any date range. At year-end, a one-click tax package gives your accountant the records, the reports and the receipts in one place.

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Final thoughts

Shortlet bookkeeping is hard because the money arrives in different shapes, at different times, and the costs come small and often. The sums themselves are simple.

Record income gross, keep deposits apart, categorise costs the day they happen, and close the month on the same day every month. Then you know what each listing earns and you file without reconstructing the year. If you are still choosing between shortlets and long lets, our long-term versus short-term comparison covers the economics.

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FAQ

Is a spreadsheet or Zoho Books enough for a shortlet?

A spreadsheet works for one listing, if you update it after every booking and every cost. It gets hard to keep accurate once you have several channels and listings. Zoho Books is full accounting software, with VAT and e-invoicing built for Nigeria. You can track each listing with reporting tags, but you set that structure up yourself. Roofteller starts from the property: the money sits in property-specific accounts, transactions are recorded against the listing, and reports come by listing.

Is a caution deposit income?

Not when you receive it. It is the guest's money, held against damage. Only the part you keep becomes income, on the day you decide to keep it. Refund the rest and record the refund.

Do I need a separate account for each shortlet?

You don't have to, but it is the simplest way to know what each listing earns. When each listing's money moves through its own accounts, every payment in and out already belongs to a listing, and your books start sorted.

Do I charge VAT on shortlet bookings?

Not if you are a small business on both tests: turnover of ₦100 million or less, and fixed assets of no more than ₦250 million. Above that, the safer reading is yes for the bookings you take directly, but the Act does not settle it, so take advice. Bookings made through Airbnb are different: Airbnb collects and pays the VAT on those stays itself.

Does Airbnb or Booking.com collect tax for me?

Airbnb collects 7.5% VAT on the listing price, including cleaning fees, for stays in Nigeria, and pays it over itself. Its Nigeria tax page lists VAT only, so income tax stays with you. For Booking.com and any other platform, check your statements and invoices for any tax collected.

How long should I keep shortlet records?

Six years. That is the audit window, and it covers every receipt, invoice, statement and deposit record behind your figures.

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This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. Tax laws are subject to interpretation and change. Consult a qualified tax professional for advice specific to your situation.

Roofteller is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Operating and Interest accounts are provided by PocketApp Global Limited (Piggyvest Business), licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).