By Trevor McCandless, CPA, MTax, CEO of Fusion CPA. Reviewed by Katherine Harrington, CPA, MAFM, Tax Director. Published July 2026.
Atlanta just hosted eight World Cup matches, including a semifinal, and the city’s short-term rental market boomed during the tournament. Homeowners near Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in Midtown, and across the metro listed spare rooms and whole houses at rates they will probably never see again.
The same thing played out in the other ten U.S. host cities: New York and New Jersey around MetLife, plus Los Angeles, Dallas, the San Francisco Bay Area, Miami, Seattle, Houston, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Boston. Hosts in every one of those markets are about to face the same question at tax time.
Here is the part many of those hosts do not know yet. If you rented your home for fewer than 15 days this year, federal law may allow you to exclude that rental income from federal gross income. Not deferred. Not reduced. Excluded. This is a federal rule, so it works the same whether your house is in Georgia, Texas, or Massachusetts.
Georgia homeowners should recognize the rule. It has a nickname.
The Augusta Rule: Playing a Home Game
Section 280A(g) of the Internal Revenue Code says that if you rent out a dwelling you use as a residence for fewer than 15 days during the tax year, the rental income is excluded from your gross income entirely. You do not report it, and in exchange, you cannot deduct rental expenses tied to those days.
The provision is commonly called the Augusta rule because homeowners in Augusta, Georgia have used it for decades to rent their houses during the Masters. The same mechanics that work for one week of golf in April work for a run of World Cup matches in June and July.
How The 14 Days Actually Count
The details matter here because the rule is generous but strict at the edges.
The 14-day limit applies to the entire tax year. Once you rent your home for 15 or more days during the year, the Section 280A(g) exclusion no longer applies, and the rental income generally becomes reportable under the normal rental income rules. The count includes every day the home was rented during the tax year, regardless of the event. For example, if you rented your home for 10 nights during the World Cup and another 6 nights during a fall concert weekend, the exclusion would no longer apply because your total rental days reached 16.
The home must be one you use as a residence. Generally, that means your personal use of the property during the year exceeds the greater of 14 days or 10 percent of the days it was rented at a fair rental price. A primary residence will often meet this test, but the rental and personal-use days should still be confirmed. A dedicated investment property that you never stay in generally does not; that income follows the normal rental rules instead.
No deductions for the rental days. The trade-off for excluding the income is that you cannot deduct cleaning fees, platform commissions, or a share of utilities against it. Otherwise allowable mortgage interest and property taxes may still be claimed under the normal itemized-deduction rules and limitations.
Fair rental price still matters. A higher event-week rate does not by itself prevent the exclusion, provided the amount reflects a defensible market rate. Tournament-week pricing near the stadium was multiples of normal rates, and that is fine. Higher pricing during a major event can still represent fair market value when it reflects what unrelated renters are willing to pay.
What Happens When a 1099-K Shows Up Anyway
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the federal Form 1099-K reporting threshold returned to more than $20,000 in payments and more than 200 transactions, effective for the 2025 tax year. Many homeowners renting for a single event will not meet both federal reporting thresholds, although platforms may still issue a Form 1099-K below those thresholds.
Platforms can also issue a Form 1099-K voluntarily, and some states have lower reporting thresholds of their own. Receiving a Form 1099-K does not, by itself, make otherwise excluded rental income taxable. If your rental activity qualifies under Section 280A(g), the income may still be excluded from federal gross income.
The paperwork, however, still needs to be handled correctly. A tax practitioner may need to report and reconcile the Form 1099-K so the return matches the information reported to the IRS without treating qualifying excluded income as taxable. The appropriate reporting method depends on the facts and the tax preparation approach being used. Getting that reconciliation right can help avoid unnecessary IRS correspondence.
If You Went Past 14 Days
Plenty of hosts, in Atlanta and every other host city, kept their listings live for the full tournament window and beyond. Once total rental days for the year reach 15, the income generally becomes reportable, typically on Schedule E, and expenses get allocated between personal and rental use. That is a different planning conversation, and often still a favorable one, but it comes with recordkeeping: dates, income by stay, and expense documentation. If your books for the year are a pile of platform payout emails, this is a solvable problem, but solve it before filing season rather than during it.
What Your State Does With It
The 14-day exclusion Augusta Rule is a federal income tax rule. State treatment depends on where you live and whether that state follows the relevant federal provisions.
For Atlanta homeowners, Georgia calculates individual income tax starting with federal adjusted gross income and then applies any Georgia-specific additions and subtractions required by law. As a result, income properly excluded from federal gross income under Section 280A(g) will generally not enter the Georgia calculation, unless a specific state adjustment applies.
Hosts in Texas, Florida, and Washington do not face a conventional state individual income tax on this rental income. That does not mean there are no state or local obligations. Short-term rental permits, lodging taxes, sales taxes, and local occupancy taxes may still apply.
Hosts in other states should not assume the federal treatment automatically carries over. States have different conformity dates, definitions, and required adjustments. California, for example, follows the Internal Revenue Code only as of a specified conformity date and may modify individual federal provisions.
Income tax is also separate from lodging and occupancy taxes. Those rules vary by city and state, and the booking platform may collect some taxes on the host’s behalf. Confirm what the platform collected and whether any separate registration, reporting, or payment obligation remains.
Steps Hosts Commonly Work Through Before Filing
Taxpayers in this situation typically gather the following with their advisor:
- A count of total rental days for the calendar year, across all platforms and events, with dates
- Personal-use days, to confirm the home qualifies as a residence for the year
- Platform payout records and any 1099-K received, even one below the federal threshold
- For hosts over 14 days: income by stay and expense records for allocation
Where Fusion CPA Fits
Fusion CPA provides tax preparation, tax planning, outsourced accounting, and CFO advisory for businesses and individuals across more than with offices in Atlanta, GA; Park City, UT; Salt Lake City, UT; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Tampa, FL.
For homeowners and short-term rental hosts, that includes personal income tax preparation, rental income reporting, multi-state tax guidance where applicable, and tax planning – including determining whether your rental activity qualifies for the Section 280A(g) exclusion.
The process starts with a free discovery call to understand your situation and identify planning opportunities before you file. Email discovery@fusiontaxes.com or call 404-955-7338.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I pay taxes on income from renting my house during the World Cup?
Generally not, if you rented your home for fewer than 15 days during the entire tax year and you use the home as your residence. Section 280A(g) excludes qualifying rental income from federal gross income. State income tax treatment should be confirmed based on where you live. Once you reach 15 or more rental days during the year, the normal rental income rules generally apply. Fusion CPA can review your specific situation.
I got a 1099-K for rental income that should be tax-free. What do I do?
A 1099-K does not make excluded income taxable. A tax practitioner may need to disclose and offset the reported amount appropriately so the return reconciles to the form without treating qualifying income as taxable. The correct reporting method depends on the facts and the tax software being used. Handling the mismatch correctly avoids automated notices. Email discovery@fusiontaxes.com if you receive one.
Does the 14-day rule apply to a rental property I own but do not live in?
Generally no. The exclusion applies to a dwelling you use as a residence, which typically requires personal use exceeding the greater of 14 days or 10 percent of the days rented at fair rental. A pure investment property usually follows the normal rental income rules on Schedule E instead.
Sources and References
- IRC Section 280A(g), exclusion for dwelling units rented fewer than 15 days (26 U.S.C. § 280A(g))
- IRC Section 280A(d), definition of use as a residence (26 U.S.C. § 280A(d))
- IRS Fact Sheet FS-2025-08, Form 1099-K FAQs reflecting the OBBBA reporting threshold
- One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Pub. L. 119-21 (July 4, 2025), Section 70432 (Form 1099-K threshold)
- IRS Publication 527, Residential Rental Property
- Georgia Department of Revenue, individual income tax starting point (federal AGI conformity)
Tax laws change, and the figures above are current as of July 2026.
This blog article is not intended to be the rendering of legal, accounting, tax advice or other professional services. Articles are based on current or proposed tax rules at the time they are written and older posts are not updated for tax rule changes. We expressly disclaim all liability in regard to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this blog as well as the use or interpretation of this information. Information provided on this website is not all-inclusive and such information should not be relied upon as being all-inclusive.