How to book Airbnb income in Exact Online

A complete guide for Belgian accountants

If you have a client who rents out property on Airbnb, you've probably discovered that booking this income correctly in Exact Online is more complicated than it looks. Airbnb provides data in three separate files, each with its own quirks. VAT rates changed in March 2026. And some invoices simply don't exist yet when you need them.

This guide walks through the full process — from downloading data on Airbnb to importing journal entries into Exact Online.

1. Why Airbnb income is different

Most business income is straightforward: you issue an invoice, you book it, you declare it. With Airbnb, the host doesn't issue invoices — Airbnb handles everything. The host receives payouts and a set of CSV exports that you need to reconcile into proper journal entries.

Three things make this different from regular income:

The tax point is the payout date

Under Belgian VAT law (the incasseringsstelsel or cash-basis system), revenue is recognized when the host receives payment from Airbnb — the payout date. This is when VAT becomes chargeable. The payout date determines which VAT period the income falls into and which VAT rate applies.

There are multiple data sources

Transactions (the financial breakdown) are the primary source. VAT Invoices (Airbnb's host fee invoices) are needed for the purchase side. Reservations (metadata) are only needed for the transitional VAT rule. They need to be matched by confirmation code.

Bridge account for bank reconciliation

Airbnb pays out individual reservations separately, but bank transfers may arrive as lump sums. A bridge account reconciles the sum of individual reservation payouts (booked per reservation) with the actual bank transfers received.

2. The Airbnb data files

Transactions (Gross Earnings) — required

The financial breakdown: every payout, reservation earning, adjustment, service fee, and cleaning fee. The transaction date is the payout date — this is the primary date for accounting and VAT.

Where to find it: Airbnb → Menu → Earnings → Gross Earnings tab → set date range to your target period → Export CSV.

No pagination issue — the full range exports in one file. Duplicates are ignored on import.

Reservations — optional (transitional rule only)

A list of all guest bookings with booking dates. Only needed if the host has reservations booked before 1 March 2026 with payouts before 1 July 2026 — in that case, the booking date is needed to apply the transitional 6% VAT rate instead of 12%.

Where to find it: Log into Airbnb as a host → "Today" page → scroll to "See all reservations" → "All" tab → Export → Download CSV file.

Airbnb only exports the current page. Upload multiple pages if needed — duplicates are ignored.

VAT Invoices — required for purchase exports

Airbnb's invoices for host service fees. This is the purchase side — what Airbnb charged the host for their commission.

Where to find it: Same reservations page → Export → Download VAT invoices. Exported per month, grouped by check-in month.

Important:

• Airbnb only generates invoices after checkout. If the guest hasn't stayed yet, the invoice doesn't exist.
• Invoices are only available for 6 months. Download them promptly.

3. The three exports for Exact Online

Once you've processed the data, you need to produce three separate journal files:

Sales Journal

Books the host's revenue. Each reservation becomes a line with the gross amount (payout + service fee), the applicable VAT rate, and the revenue G/L account. The payout date is the invoice date.

Purchase Journal

Books Airbnb's host fee invoices using reverse charge (Belgian VAT boxes 87 & 59). Each invoice becomes a line with the host fee amount.

Sundry / General Journal

The bridge account reconciliation. The Sundry entry moves the net of Sales minus Purchases into a bridge account for a given period. When the bank transfer from Airbnb arrives, you book it against the same bridge account in Exact Online — and the balance should clear.

The bridge account in the Sundry must match the account used when booking bank receipts in Exact Online, otherwise reconciliation doesn't work.

4. VAT rate determination

Belgian VAT on short-term rental income:

• 6% for payouts received before 1 March 2026
• 12% for payouts received from 1 March 2026 onwards

The rate is determined by the payout date — when the host receives the money from Airbnb. This follows Belgian cash-basis VAT rules (incasseringsstelsel).

Transitional rule: Reservations booked on or before 28 February 2026, where the payout is received before 1 July 2026, still qualify for the old 6% rate. After 30 June 2026, the transitional rule expires and all payouts are taxed at 12%.

Each ledger event carries its VAT rate, determined when the export is created. Once confirmed, it's immutable.

5. Other considerations

Missing invoices

Airbnb generates VAT invoices only after checkout. If the guest hasn't stayed yet, the invoice doesn't exist. This means:

• When creating a purchase export, some invoices may not be available yet
• The system flags these as warnings
• Upload the invoices when they become available and create a new purchase export

Per-listing accounts

A host with multiple properties may need different G/L account mappings per listing — different revenue accounts, different expense accounts. The system resolves the correct mapping for each journal entry based on the listing.

6. The full workflow

Here's what the complete monthly process looks like when done manually:

1. Download gross earnings CSV from Airbnb for the target period
2. Download VAT invoices for the target month
3. Optionally download reservations (only for transitional VAT rule)
4. Import all files into a spreadsheet or tool
5. Match transactions and invoices by confirmation code
6. Calculate VAT at the correct rate (6% or 12%) based on payout date
7. Build the Sales journal CSV with the correct columns for Exact Online
8. Build the Purchase journal CSV with reverse charge VAT codes
9. Build the Sundry journal CSV with bridge account entries
10. Verify all G/L accounts, relation codes, and VAT codes per listing
11. Import all three into Exact Online

For one client, this takes 1-2 hours if nothing goes wrong. For multiple clients, every quarter, it becomes a significant time commitment.

The alternative

Airbtw automates steps 4 through 11. You download the files from Airbnb, upload them into the assistant, and it handles the matching, VAT calculation, and export generation. You review the results and download the CSVs for Exact Online.