2026 tax year · Texas
Rental host taxes in Texas
Airbnb, Turo and the rest report your gross and withhold nothing. The gap between that and what you are taxed on is your costs, in Texas that gap is worth $2,252 in tax.
Take a driver who grossed $39,000 over 18,000 business miles. After mileage at 74.3 cents and the rest of the stack, worked through on the rental host page $10,100 comes off and $28,900 is left as taxable profit. That profit is what Texas and the IRS charge against.
What that leaves you owing in Texas
| Self-employment tax | $4,083 |
| Federal income tax | $861 |
| Texas income tax | $0, no state income tax |
| Total tax | $4,944 |
| Effective rate on gross | 12.7% |
Earning more in Texas
A single filer taking the standard deduction, this work as the only income, the calculator above handles the other filing statuses. Miles rise with earnings, so the deduction rises too, and the effective rate on gross climbs more slowly than it would for someone whose income grew without expenses attached:
| Volume | Gross | Mileage off | Taxable profit | Texas tax | Total tax | Rate on gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part-time | $13,000 | $0 | $13,000 | $0 | $1,837 | 14.1% |
| Steady side income | $39,000 | $0 | $39,000 | $0 | $7,196 | 18.5% |
| Full-time | $63,000 | $0 | $63,000 | $0 | $12,729 | 20.2% |
Texas specifics that change the number
Texas is a community property state. In community property states, income earned during marriage is generally owned equally by both spouses. This affects QJV eligibility, MFS filing strategies, and retirement account contribution rules.
Texas does have a business tax, the franchise (margin) tax, but it spares most of the self-employed twice over: sole proprietors are not taxable entities at all, and an LLC owes nothing until annualized revenue passes the no-tax-due threshold, $2,650,000 for the 2026 and 2027 report years. Above it the rate is 0.375% for retail and wholesale, 0.75% for everything else. An LLC under the threshold still files a Public Information Report each year, a form, not a tax.
Local taxes on a Texas let
The income tax below is only part of it. Short-term lets attract occupancy, lodging or transient taxes levied by the city or county rather than Texas, often at rates that dwarf the state income tax. Some platforms collect and remit them; some collect only part; in some places the host is on the hook entirely. That is a local question this calculator cannot answer, and it is the one hosts most often get wrong.
On $28,900 of profit, what the states around Texas would charge:
| State | Its tax | vs Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | $453 | +$453 |
| Arkansas | $1,050 | +$1,050 |
| New Mexico | $1,126 | +$1,126 |
| Oklahoma | $1,266 | +$1,266 |
- Louisiana would take $453 more, $453 against Texas's $0.
- Arkansas would take $1,050 more, $1,050 against Texas's $0.
- New Mexico would take $1,126 more, $1,126 against Texas's $0.
- Oklahoma would take $1,266 more, $1,266 against Texas's $0.
Rental host tax questions in Texas
How much should a Texas host set aside?
About 12.7% of gross on the $39,000 example, $4,944 across self-employment tax, federal income tax and nothing to Texas. In practice that means moving about $127 of every $1,000 payout into a separate account the day it lands, and sending roughly $1,236 to the IRS each quarter, no platform withholds any of this for you. Set aside from each payout rather than finding it in April.
Does the $39,000 on my 1099-NEC match what Texas taxes?
No. Texas taxes profit, not gross. After $10,100 of deductions the taxable figure is $28,900, so there is no Texas tax either way. But the federal side drops by $2,252. The form reports what the platform paid out, it knows nothing about your costs, and no one subtracts them for you. On this example 26% of the gross never becomes taxable income, but only for the host who kept the records to prove it.