The 60-second answer
§469 is the passive-activity-loss rule; material-participation (MP) is the §1.469-5T test that reclassifies STR losses as non-passive and allowed against W-2 wages.
- You want business banking + bank-feed Schedule E prep at $0/mo: Baselane. The free Core tier is what it is built for.
- You are pursuing the STR tax loophole and need material-participation (MP) hour tracking: Field Ledger. Baselane does not advertise this as a native feature.
- You want integrated Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking payout connections and rent collection by ACH: Baselane. This is a core strength and part of the free tier.
- You want one record that captures §469 hours, mileage with purpose, average-stay, and §280A personal-use days: Field Ledger. That is the wedge.
- You want both: A pattern used by loophole-pursuing hosts. Baselane free Core + Field Ledger Owner = $19/mo total for a single property (plus applicable US sales tax), and the CPA gets both files at year-end. See the "Running both together" section below.
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA. Baselane features and free-tier pricing reflect publicly available information verified 2026-09-09 and spot-checked 2026-11-01; Baselane's paid-tier price was not independently re-verified today. Verify at baselane.com before deciding.
These are different categories of tool
Before the side-by-side: understanding why hosts compare these two despite the categories being distinct.
Baselane is a landlord banking and bookkeeping platform. At the center is business checking with per-property virtual accounts (each with its own account and routing numbers), fed by bank-feed integrations advertised as Plaid-grade and connected directly to Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking payout flows. On top of that sit bookkeeping (automatic categorization, cash-flow reports, per-property Schedule E CSV or PDF), rent collection by ACH or card, bill pay, and a mobile app. Baselane Core is free with unlimited properties; paid tiers add faster deposits and advanced features. Free-tier facts reflect publicly available information verified 2026-09-09, spot-checked 2026-11-01; Baselane's paid-tier price was not independently re-verified today, so check baselane.com for current numbers.
Field Ledger is a §469 material-participation record-keeping tool. Its data model is built around the three records STR hosts pursuing the loophole need: material-participation hours per property (your own time, by activity), average-stay data for the §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A) 7-day test (the regulation that moves STRs out of rental-activity classification when average customer stay is 7 days or fewer), and §280A(d) personal-use days against the 14-day-or-10%-of-fair-rental-days ceiling. Plus substantiation-aware mileage math under §274(d) (the substantiation elements rule, requiring per-entry date, duration, business purpose, and amount) and investor-activity carve-outs under Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii). For the step-by-step on proving material participation to the IRS, see the companion guide. Field Ledger does not operate a bank, does not offer bank-feed sync, does not collect rent.
The overlap that drives the comparison: both tools produce a per-property Schedule E record your CPA can work from. That shared surface is where a solo STR host doing evaluation-shopping ends up asking "which one do I pick?"; and for hosts actually pursuing the §469 non-passive position, the answer is usually "you pick both, because they cover different halves of the record your CPA needs."
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
Side-by-side comparison
Pricing and feature descriptions reflect publicly available information verified 2026-09-09 and spot-checked 2026-11-01 (consistent with the four-way breakdown shipped 2026-09-09 at best-airbnb-accounting-software-str-loophole). Baselane's paid-tier price was not independently re-verified today. Verify on each vendor's website before deciding. Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
| Dimension | Field Ledger | Baselane |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | §469 material-participation record-keeping for STR hosts | Landlord banking + bookkeeping platform |
| Free tier | No, trial only | Yes: Core at $0/mo, unlimited properties |
| Entry-tier price | $19/mo or $190/yr (Owner) | $0/mo (Core); paid tier adds faster deposits and advanced features (price not independently verified today; check baselane.com) |
| Free trial length | 714 days, no credit card; full renewal terms shown in the CTA below | N/A, free tier available indefinitely |
| Business checking + virtual accounts | No, not a banking product | Yes: per-property virtual accounts, each with routing numbers; core feature |
| Bank-feed integration (Plaid or similar) | No, journal-style entry only | Yes, a core feature |
| Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking payout connections | No native platform connections; income entered manually | Yes, direct payout connections advertised on vendor marketing |
| Rent collection (ACH/card) | No | Yes, in Core tier |
| §469 material-participation (MP) hour tracking | Yes: first-class feature, per-property, measured against the §1.469-5T(a)(1) 500-hour test and the §1.469-5T(a)(3) 100-hour-and-more-than-anyone-else test | Not advertised as a native feature |
| Average-stay tracking (§1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A) 7-day test) | Yes, computed from logged guest stays against the 7-day threshold | Not advertised; may require manual computation from the platform's reservation data |
| Personal-use days (§280A(d)) | Yes: status readout against the §280A(d) threshold (greater of 14 personal-use days OR 10% of days rented at fair rental) | Not a first-class feature |
| Investor-activity carve-outs (§1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii)) | Yes: investor-type work tagged at capture and not aggregated into the MP hour total by default | Not a §469-specific feature |
| Mileage capture | Yes, with stated business purpose per trip; unsubstantiated miles flagged under §274(d), not auto-totaled into the deduction summary | Not advertised as a native feature; may require a separate mileage app |
| Per-property income and expense P&L | Yes, CSV export grouped by property | Yes, cash-flow and NOI reports in Core tier |
| Schedule E export | Yes: operating-line subtotals + suggested MACRS class life for capital + de-minimis flag (≤$2,500 per item under Treas. Reg. §1.263(a)-1(f)) | Yes: per-property Schedule E as CSV or PDF, included in free Core tier |
| Plain-English capture (language-model-assisted) | Yes, where enabled on your plan: type your day, the tool structures it into typed drafts you review before anything saves | Not advertised as a native feature (based on publicly available information verified 2026-09-09, spot-checked 2026-11-01); Baselane's advertised bookkeeping surface is bank-feed-driven categorization and manual entry |
| Native mobile app | No, responsive web | Yes, iOS and Android advertised on vendor marketing |
| Portfolio scope | 1 / 5 / unlimited properties by tier; STR-first data model | Unlimited on free Core tier; scales to larger portfolios |
What Baselane covers well
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
Per-property virtual accounts with their own routing and account numbers, operating balances advertised as interest-bearing, and no monthly minimums advertised on the Core tier (based on publicly available information verified 2026-09-09, spot-checked 2026-11-01). For STR hosts who want property-level financial separation without opening a separate business checking account at a traditional bank for each unit, Baselane is a strong fit on this axis. Field Ledger is not a bank and does not compete here.
Transactions appear automatically, get categorized against a landlord-oriented chart of accounts, and roll up into per-property P&L and Schedule E reports. For hosts who want to minimize time spent on manual income and expense entry, this is the big ergonomic win in the banking-plus-bookkeeping category.
Baselane's STR product advertises direct connections to Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking payout flows so platform revenue lands in the business account and is categorized automatically. For hosts running multi-platform listings, this is a meaningful shortcut over copying payout CSVs between tools.
ACH and card rent collection are included in the free tier. Hosts who also hold long-term rental units alongside their STR portfolio can collect rent through Baselane without a separate tool.
Per-property Schedule E downloadable as CSV or PDF is included at $0/mo. For hosts who want a Schedule E backup their CPA can work from without paying a subscription, Baselane's free Core tier is one of the shorter paths to that output in the category.
iOS and Android. Field Ledger is responsive web only. If your workflow is mobile-first, Baselane's app closes the loop faster for a landlord-banking workflow.
Where Baselane does not cover the §469 loophole record
Baselane is a legitimately good banking-plus-bookkeeping platform. It is not a §469 record. For hosts pursuing the STR tax loophole (non-passive treatment of STR losses by meeting one of the material-participation tests under Reg. §1.469-5T, combined with the ≤7-day average-stay test under §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A)), these are the specific records Baselane does not advertise as native capabilities:
Your own time, by activity, per property, measured against the §1.469-5T(a)(1) 500-hour test or the §1.469-5T(a)(3) 100-hour-and-more-than-anyone-else test. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(4) is the taxpayer's permissive standard: participation may be established by any reasonable means when examined, so the record a host maintains is what carries the position. Baselane captures transactions and categorizes them; it does not advertise capturing your work hours by activity.
Reg. §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A) takes a property out of the "rental activity" class, and therefore outside §469(c)(2) rental passive treatment, when the average customer stay is 7 days or fewer. The host has to be able to show this on examination. Baselane handles the money; the average-stay calculation runs on reservation data (nights booked per stay, averaged across the year), which Baselane does not advertise as a tax test.
If the host (or specified family) uses the property for more than the greater of 14 days or 10% of fair-rental days, §280A(d) can reclassify the property as a residence and restrict deductions. The record that supports a clean §280A position is a count of personal-use days by category (owner, spouse, family, etc.) measured against the ceiling, which Baselane does not advertise tracking.
Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii) excludes investor-type work (reviewing financial reports, analyzing summaries, strategic planning for investment purposes) from the material-participation hour count unless the taxpayer is also directly involved in day-to-day management or operations. A §469-aware record flags this at capture; a general bookkeeping tool, including Baselane, does not advertise this capability.
§274(d) requires contemporaneous substantiation of business purpose for vehicle use. A §469-aware record keeps unsubstantiated miles separate from the deduction total (and separate from the hour total; mileage is miles, not hours). Baselane does not advertise mileage capture as a native feature.
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
What Field Ledger covers
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
§469 material-participation hours, §469 average-stay (7-day test under §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A)), and §280A personal-use days are all captured against named thresholds, with Reached / Below status markers. A per-property MP-summary readout shows where each record stands against the applicable threshold at any point in the year, so December is a calendar check rather than a retroactive rebuild.
Where enabled on your plan, type "cleaned Brooklyn 2.5h, drove from Brooklyn to Greenfield Park for a check-in, Home Depot $45 for paint" once. Field Ledger structures it into an activity (2.5h cleaning), a trip (Brooklyn → Greenfield Park), and an expense (Home Depot, $45) as separate typed drafts for your review before anything saves.
The headline "at standard mileage rate" figure only counts miles with a stated business purpose. Miles logged without a purpose surface on a visible warning rather than being totaled into the deduction summary. Mileage, time, and expense entries are captured with per-entry date, duration, and business-purpose fields, the elements §274(d) substantiation requires; the record you present is still your responsibility. Mileage is also kept distinct from hours (miles are miles, not hours).
Travel hours are captured but never auto-counted toward the §469 MP total; Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(1) is the broad inclusion rule for any work done "in connection with" the activity, and we leave the opt-in to confirm the in-connection-with purpose in the user's hands rather than default-counting travel. Investor-type work (per Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii)) is tagged at capture and not aggregated into the MP total by default. Material-participation status reads "Reached" or "Below" rather than "PASS" or "FAIL" (a threshold is a marker, not a legal determination).
Each activity records who performed it, from a fixed enum (owner, co-owner, vendor, manager). This supports the §1.469-5T(a)(3) 100-hour "more than any other individual" comparison without turning your log into a per-individual time clock. The design is conservative: the (a)(3) comparison takes the maximum other-participant bucket, so a property with several vendors never over-credits you against the "no other individual participates more" test. The design intent is to produce enough context for the §469 participation comparison, not to over-collect data.
Per-property operating-line subtotals mapped to Schedule E categories, plus capital items listed separately with a suggested MACRS class life (5, 7, 15, 27.5, or in some transient-lodging fact patterns 39 years), plus items ≤$2,500 flagged as potentially de-minimis under Treas. Reg. §1.263(a)-1(f); your CPA reviews and elects.
The two-tool pattern
For STR hosts pursuing the §469 non-passive position seriously, the recommendation is both tools together, not a pick between them:
- Baselane for the money record: business checking with per-property virtual accounts, bank-feed-driven income and expense categorization, platform payout connections (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking), Schedule E CSV at year-end.
- Field Ledger for the §469 qualification record: material-participation hours (your own time, by activity), average-stay math for the §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A) ≤7-day test, §280A(d) personal-use days against the 14-day-or-10% ceiling, substantiation-aware mileage under §274(d), and the CPA-facing Schedule E summary with MACRS + de-minimis notes.
- At year-end your CPA gets both exports. The money side reconciles against the bank statements and the platform payout CSVs; the §469 side carries the hour-log and the stays-and-personal-use readout.
Cost math for the "run both" pattern: Baselane Core ($0, as of 2026-09-09 spot-check 2026-11-01) + Field Ledger Owner ($19/mo) = $19/mo for a single-property host, plus applicable US sales tax. Both tools scale to larger portfolios on paid tiers. Baselane Core pricing is set by Baselane and may change; verify at baselane.com before deciding.
This mirrors the pattern described in the hours-only-trackers comparison: a bookkeeping tool plus a §469-specific tool together, with the trade-off that your §469 evidence then lives in a different system than your bookkeeping. Field Ledger is designed to be the §469 half of that pair.
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
What both fall short on
Shared limitations of both tools:
- Neither files your taxes. Both produce records your CPA (or your DIY tax software) uses at year-end. For actual filing, use a CPA or qualified tax software. For §469 loophole returns, a CPA is usually worth the cost.
- Neither makes tax determinations for you. Material participation, the 7-day average-stay test, and personal-use classifications are fact-specific IRS determinations. Both tools capture data; qualification is between you and your tax professional.
- Baselane does not advertise producing a §469 participation record. The taxpayer is responsible for establishing material-participation evidence by reasonable means under Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(4) when examined; a Baselane export does not answer that. That record has to exist in a separate system (a specialist tracker, a spreadsheet, or Field Ledger).
- Field Ledger does not operate a bank or offer bank-feed sync. Schedule E income and expense lines are entered manually; they are not pulled live from a bank. Hosts who want zero manual-entry on the money side need a bookkeeping tool like Baselane for that half of the record.
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
Decision framework by host profile
Rental losses suspend under §469(b) and release against future passive income or on a qualifying disposition under §469(g)(1); the record that matters is a clean Schedule E backup. Baselane's $0 tier with bank-feed + Schedule E CSV covers it without the overhead of a §469-specific tool. Field Ledger's depth is wasted here.
The §469 participation record is the whole point of the loophole, and Baselane does not produce it. Pair Baselane's $0 money record with Field Ledger Owner at $19/mo for the §469 record. Combined cost for a single property: $19/mo, plus applicable US sales tax. Your CPA receives both files at year-end.
Baselane's per-property virtual-account structure keeps the money record clean at any portfolio size. Add Field Ledger Operator ($39/mo, 5 properties) or Portfolio ($79/mo, unlimited) for the §469 record. The combined bill scales with properties; the §469 record stays per-property-specific, which is what the taxpayer uses to establish participation by reasonable means under Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(4) when examined.
Baselane handles LTR rent collection, bill pay, and bank-feed bookkeeping across the entire portfolio. Field Ledger covers only the STR units pursuing the §469 position. Scope the Field Ledger tier by STR property count, not total portfolio size.
Zero-dollar entry point, bank-feed-driven Schedule E, mobile app. Reconsider Field Ledger when (and only when) you start pursuing the loophole and need a §469 record Baselane does not produce.
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
The right fit by host profile
Two questions decide it:
Are you pursuing the STR tax loophole? If no, Baselane. Field Ledger's §469 depth is wasted on a return that does not need it; Baselane's $0 Core tier with bank-feed bookkeeping and a Schedule E CSV is a strictly better fit for standard rental reporting.
If yes to the loophole, do you also want bank-feed-driven bookkeeping and platform payout connections? If yes, run both: Baselane Core (free, as of 2026-09-09 spot-check 2026-11-01) + Field Ledger Owner ($19/mo) for a single property, plus applicable US sales tax. The CPA gets both files at year-end; the money side reconciles against the bank, the §469 side carries the participation evidence. If no (you already have your bookkeeping figured out or you prefer manual entry), Field Ledger alone covers the §469 record.
The mistake to avoid: assuming you have to pick one. These tools cover different categories. For hosts pursuing the §469 non-passive position, a defensible §469 file (CPA-handoff context: a single per-property package your CPA signs off on) usually benefits from both tools together, not either one alone.
Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
Frequently asked questions
Is Baselane or Field Ledger free?
Baselane Core is $0/mo with unlimited properties and includes per-property Schedule E CSV or PDF export, based on publicly available information verified 2026-09-09 and spot-checked 2026-11-01 (Baselane Core pricing is set by Baselane and may change). Field Ledger has a free trial (714 days, no credit card required; 14 days when arriving via a current campaign token). After the trial, Field Ledger renews at the plan you select (Owner $19/mo, Operator $39/mo, Portfolio $79/mo, or annual equivalents) plus applicable US sales tax, until canceled; full renewal terms shown in the CTA below. If a permanent $0 tier is the gating factor, Baselane fits that need.
What's the difference between Baselane and Field Ledger?
Baselane is a landlord banking plus bookkeeping platform; Field Ledger is a §469 material-participation record-keeping tool for short-term rental hosts. Baselane handles the money side: business checking with per-property virtual accounts, bank-feed-driven income and expense categorization, Schedule E CSV or PDF, platform payout connections (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking), and rent collection. Field Ledger handles the §469 qualification side: material-participation hours by activity, average-stay data for the §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A) 7-day test, §280A(d) personal-use days against the 14-day-or-10% ceiling, and substantiation-aware mileage under §274(d). Different categories, not direct substitutes. Hosts pursuing the STR tax loophole can run both tools together, with the CPA receiving both files at year-end. Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
Can I use Baselane alone for the STR tax loophole?
Baselane does not advertise capturing §469 material-participation hours, 7-day average-stay math, or §280A(d) personal-use day tracking as native features (based on publicly available information verified 2026-09-09, spot-checked 2026-11-01). If you are pursuing the loophole, those records still need to exist somewhere, either in a separate tool (Field Ledger, a specialist hour tracker) or disciplined manual records in a spreadsheet or notebook. Baselane covers the money side (bank-feed Schedule E income and expenses) cleanly, but the §469 qualification record is a different artifact the taxpayer uses to establish participation by reasonable means under Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(4) when examined. Running Baselane alone does not change the §469 record requirement. Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
Does Baselane track §469 material-participation hours for the STR tax loophole?
Not as a first-class feature. Baselane is a banking and bookkeeping platform. Its data model is built around per-property virtual accounts, bank-feed transactions, income and expense categorization, and a Schedule E report. §469 material-participation hours (your own time, by activity, per property, measured against the §1.469-5T(a)(1) 500-hour test or the §1.469-5T(a)(3) 100-hour-and-more-than-anyone-else test) are not part of Baselane's advertised feature set based on publicly available information verified 2026-09-09, spot-checked 2026-11-01. Hosts pursuing the STR loophole can pair Baselane with a separate §469 hour tracker. Not tax advice; consult a qualified tax professional.
Can I use Baselane AND Field Ledger together?
Yes. For STR hosts pursuing the §469 non-passive position this can be the answer. Pattern used: Baselane for the money record (business checking, bank-feed-driven income and expense categorization, per-property virtual accounts, Schedule E CSV at year-end), Field Ledger for the §469 qualification record (material-participation hours, mileage with stated business purpose under §274(d), guest-stay data for the §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A) 7-day average-stay test, and §280A(d) personal-use days). At year-end your CPA receives both files; the reconciliation is per-property line-matching on the money side and the §469-specific records on the qualification side. Not tax advice.
Does Field Ledger have bank sync (Plaid) like Baselane?
No. Field Ledger does not offer bank-feed sync. Entries come in through a plain-English capture surface (where enabled on your plan) or through single-entry forms. If live bank-feed reconciliation is central to how you want to run bookkeeping, Baselane is the better fit for that half of the record. The two tools are not substitutes for each other on this axis; they cover different categories.
Which is better for a solo host with one STR property?
It depends on whether you are pursuing the STR tax loophole. If no (you are reporting rental losses as passive and letting them suspend under §469(b) and release against future passive income or on a qualifying disposition under §469(g)(1)), Baselane Core at $0/mo covers Schedule E income and expenses with bank-feed convenience. If yes to the loophole, you need a §469-specific record Baselane does not produce; Field Ledger Owner at $19/mo covers 1 property with material-participation hours, average-stay math, and §280A personal-use tracking. Some solo loophole-pursuing hosts run both: Baselane free for the money side, Field Ledger Owner for the §469 side. Combined cost: $19/mo for a single property, plus applicable US sales tax. Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
What does Baselane cover that Field Ledger does not?
Business checking accounts with per-property virtual accounts and routing numbers, bank-feed-driven automatic transaction import and categorization, savings advertised as interest-bearing on operating balances, bill pay, rent collection by ACH or card, Airbnb and Vrbo and Booking payout connections, and a mobile app (features based on publicly available information verified 2026-09-09, spot-checked 2026-11-01). These are the strengths of a banking-plus-bookkeeping platform. Field Ledger does not operate a bank, does not offer bank-feed sync, does not collect rent, and has no mobile app (responsive web only).
What does Field Ledger cover that Baselane does not?
The three §469-specific records: material-participation hours by activity, average-stay data for the §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A) 7-day test, and §280A(d) personal-use days measured against the 14-day-or-10%-of-fair-rental-days ceiling. Also substantiation-aware mileage math (miles without a stated business purpose are flagged, not totaled into the deduction summary, per §274(d) substantiation requirements). Also investor-activity carve-outs under Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii) are respected at capture (investor-type work is tagged and not aggregated into the material-participation hour total by default). Baselane does not advertise any of these as native capabilities based on publicly available information verified 2026-09-09, spot-checked 2026-11-01. Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.
Does using Baselane alone put the §469 position at risk?
Running Baselane alone does not change the §469 record requirement; it means the §469 material-participation record lives somewhere other than Baselane (a spreadsheet, a notebook, a specialist tracker, or Field Ledger). On examination the taxpayer must establish material-participation evidence by reasonable means under Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(4). If the host cannot produce that record, the §469 non-passive position is harder to sustain regardless of how clean the Schedule E lines look. Baselane handles the money side; the §469 side is a separate record that has to exist somewhere. Not tax advice; consult a qualified tax professional.
Try Field Ledger's §469 record, before you decide
The call in this comparison is whether your setup needs §469-specific records (material-participation hours, 7-day average-stay, §280A personal-use). If it does, Field Ledger's 714-day trial is no-credit-card: enter one week of records, see your hours, stays, and personal-use days against each threshold, and decide from there. Most hosts pair this with Baselane's free Core tier for the money side; total cost $19/mo for a single property, plus applicable US sales tax, with both halves of the STR-tax record covered.
- §469 material-participation hours, 7-day average-stay, and §280A personal-use days in one tool
- Plain-English capture (where enabled on your plan) that structures a day's work into typed drafts you review
- Mileage with §274(d) substantiation; miles without purpose flagged, not totaled
- Schedule E CSV your CPA can work from, with MACRS + de-minimis notes
- No credit card required to start; cancel anytime
714-day free trial, no credit card required. Renews at the plan you select: Owner $19/mo ($190/yr), Operator $39/mo ($390/yr), or Portfolio $79/mo ($790/yr), until canceled. Cancel anytime in Manage Billing. Plus applicable US sales tax. Not tax advice.
Related guides
- Best Airbnb accounting software for the STR loophole (Baselane, Stessa, REI Hub, DoorLoop compared)
- Field Ledger vs Stessa (the other banking-plus-bookkeeping comparison)
- Field Ledger vs REPStracker vs Track Your STR (the specialist hour-tracker side)
- STR tax software: full specialist comparison (track750, DeductFlow, REPStracker, Field Ledger)
- How to qualify for the STR tax loophole
- What counts as material participation for an STR
- How to prove material participation to the IRS
- The year-end §469 MP hour self-audit workflow
Statutory sources
- IRC §469: passive activity loss rules.
- Reg. §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A): 7-day average-customer-use test taking a property out of the "rental activity" class.
- Reg. §1.469-5T(a), (f)(1), (f)(2)(ii), and (f)(4): the seven material-participation tests, the "in connection with" scope of participation, the investor-activity carve-out, and the reasonable-means standard for establishing participation.
- IRC §280A(d)(1): 14-day-or-10% personal-use ceiling for dwelling-unit rental.
- IRC §274(d): substantiation requirements for travel, gifts, and listed property (including vehicles).
- Treas. Reg. §1.263(a)-1(f): de minimis safe harbor for capitalization ($2,500 or less per invoice).
- IRS Publication 925: Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules.
The key takeaway
Baselane and Field Ledger cover different halves of the STR-tax record. Baselane wins on banking, bank-feed bookkeeping, platform payout connections, rent collection, and a free Core tier. Field Ledger wins on the three record axes (§469 material-participation hours, §469 average-stay under §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A), and §280A personal-use days), substantiation-aware mileage under §274(d), and investor-activity carve-outs under Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii). For STR hosts pursuing the §469 non-passive position seriously, the answer can be both: Baselane Core for the money side, Field Ledger for the §469 side. Not tax advice; confirm with your CPA.