Internal Revenue Service

Bed and Breakfast: IRS Audit Techniques Guide Internal Revenue Service

In today's market, anyone can find a Bed and Breakfast to suit their tastes. It can range from one or two bedrooms in a modest residence to a room in a restored Victorian or a posh stay catering to the horsey set with a "room" in the barn for the horse. Others have accommodations for cats and/or dogs. Some Bed and Breakfasts are out in the country while others are downtown. Other sources of income besides room rental exist. Some proprietors offer gift shops, taxi service, jams and jellies, homemade crafts, wines, and other items for sale to the guest. Just as there are different kinds of bed and breakfast inns, the tax treatment of the inns will vary. IRC sec. 280A will come into play more often when you have a few rooms being rented out in a personal residence. Whereas, with an inn of 20 rooms it will not. IRC sec. 162 will govern because these are more like a hotel and motel business.