Your Flatmates tools
Exporting your records for tax season
Flatmates keeps a detailed record of your bookings, payouts, and fees, and knowing how to properly export this data ahead of tax season saves considerable time compared to manually reconstructing your full year's earnings from memory or scattered notes.
Find the export option within your earnings or payout section
Most platforms, Flatmates included, offer a dedicated export function within the earnings section of your host dashboard, letting you download your transaction history in a usable format rather than needing to manually copy figures one by one.
Understand what data is actually included in a standard export
A typical export covers gross booking amounts, platform fees, and net payouts for your selected period - review exactly what's included before assuming it covers everything you might personally need for your own specific tax filing purposes.
Select the correct date range matching your tax filing period
Make sure you're exporting data for the exact period relevant to your filing, whether that's a calendar year or a different fiscal period, since an incorrectly scoped export can create real confusion when reconciling against your own separate records.
Cross-check the export against your own independent records
Compare the platform's export against any separate cost tracking or income records you've kept independently, since discrepancies are worth catching and understanding well before filing rather than discovering them under time pressure later.
Export in good time, not right up against the filing deadline
Pull your export well ahead of your actual filing deadline, giving yourself genuine time to review it properly, reconcile any discrepancy, and consult a tax professional if anything is genuinely unclear.
Keep exported records organised and safely backed up
Save exported files somewhere organised and genuinely backed up, not just as a single downloaded file that could easily be lost, since these records may be relevant for several years beyond the immediate filing they were originally pulled for.
Understand this export doesn't replace proper tax advice
The platform's export gives you accurate, organised source data, but it doesn't constitute tax advice itself - a qualified professional can help you understand exactly how to properly apply this data to your specific tax situation.
Export separately for each listing if you manage more than one
If you host multiple properties, check whether the export function allows filtering by individual listing, which can be genuinely useful if you need to track or report income separately for each specific property.
Combine this data with your own expense records for a full picture
The platform's export covers your booking income side clearly, but a complete tax picture generally also requires your own expense records, maintenance, utilities, fees, which you'll need to bring together separately alongside this exported income data.
Set a recurring reminder to export data regularly, not just once a year
Rather than scrambling for a full year's data at once, exporting and archiving on a regular basis, quarterly for instance, spreads the effort out and reduces the risk of losing access to older data you might need to reference later.
Good record-keeping habits here reduce tax season stress considerably
Hosts who build a genuine habit of regularly exporting and organising their records consistently report far less stress at actual tax time than those attempting to reconstruct an entire year's financial picture all at once under real time pressure.
Check the file format and confirm it opens correctly before you need it
Export files are typically provided in a common spreadsheet format, but it's worth opening a sample export once to confirm it displays properly on whatever software you actually use, rather than discovering a formatting issue for the first time when you're already under genuine deadline pressure.
Understand what happens to your data if you ever pause or close a listing
Confirm how long historical data remains accessible if you ever pause or close a listing, since you may still need to export older records for a past tax period even after a listing itself is no longer active or currently accepting bookings.
A dedicated folder for tax exports keeps everything easy to find later
Create a single, clearly named folder specifically for these exports, separate from your general files, so that when tax season genuinely arrives, everything you need is already gathered in one obvious, easy-to-locate place rather than scattered across various downloads.
Understand what happens if you need historical data from before you started tracking
If you're setting up proper record-keeping only after already hosting for a while, check how far back the platform's own export history genuinely extends, since this may partially cover a gap in your own independent records from earlier periods.
A trusted accountant can help you interpret an export correctly the first time
If this is your first time working with an export like this, walking through it once with a qualified professional helps you understand exactly how to use it correctly, making every future tax season considerably more straightforward once you've done it properly the first time.
Treat this export as one part of a genuinely complete financial picture
Booking income is only one side of your overall tax picture - pair this export consistently with your expense tracking and any other income sources, so what you ultimately report reflects your complete, genuine financial position rather than only the platform-side income figures.
Practice the export process once, well before you actually need it urgently
Rather than discovering how the export function works for the very first time under genuine deadline pressure, run through the process once during a quiet period simply to familiarise yourself, so the real, time-pressured attempt goes smoothly because you already know exactly what to expect.
Keep a simple written note of any manual adjustment you had to make
If you ever needed to manually correct or supplement an exported figure for any reason, note down exactly what you changed and why, giving yourself a clear, reliable reference if the same question or discrepancy comes up again in a future export.
This small administrative habit protects a genuinely significant amount of money
The relatively modest time investment in proper export and record-keeping habits protects against real, costly consequences, penalties, missed deductions, an inaccurate filing, which makes it disproportionately worthwhile relative to the actual effort involved.
A final, simple rule of thumb
Export regularly, store safely, and reconcile against your own records at least once before you actually need the data for something important.
This habit, once built, barely takes any real effort to maintain
Like most of the record-keeping habits covered throughout this whole category, the hardest part is simply starting - once exporting and organising your data becomes routine, it requires only a few minutes here and there rather than any significant, ongoing effort.
A confident, well-prepared tax season is entirely within reach
With this export habit genuinely in place, tax season shifts from a dreaded, disorganised scramble into a routine task you can approach calmly, with everything you need already gathered, organised, and ready well before any deadline actually arrives on the calendar.
One final, simple summary
Export often, store safely, reconcile carefully, and tax season becomes just another routine, manageable task rather than a genuine source of annual dread and last-minute scrambling under real, unnecessary time pressure each year.
