Handout
Material participation log
A contemporaneous hours record for real estate professional status and short-term rental participation.
Courts have consistently rejected reconstructed summaries written after the fact. Keep this as you go — date, hours, property and what you actually did. Round numbers and 'approximately 20 hours per week' asserted in March are not evidence.
The tests you are documenting
- Real estate professional status: more than 750 hours in real property trades or businesses, AND more than half of all your personal service time in those activities. Both are personal tests.
- Material participation: most commonly more than 500 hours in the activity, substantially all of the participation, or more than 100 hours with no other individual participating more.
- Short-term rentals: average period of customer use of seven days or less removes the automatic rental classification — material participation is still required on top of that.
What counts
- Managing tenants, leasing, showings, screening and renewals
- Coordinating and supervising maintenance, repairs and capital projects
- Purchase and disposition activity, due diligence, financing
- Bookkeeping and management directly connected to operations
- Guest communication, turnover coordination and pricing for short-term rentals
What does not
- Investor activities — reviewing statements, studying reports for your own use — unless you are involved in day-to-day management
- Hours in a W-2 job outside real property trades or businesses (these count against the more-than-half test)
- Time attributed to a spouse for the 750-hour test itself, though a spouse's participation counts toward material participation
Log
| Date | Property | Hours | Activity performed | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly total
- Month
- Total hours this month
- Year to date
- Signature
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