Free template · material participation

The contemporaneous hours-log template

Track your short-term-rental hours the way the record eventually gets read: entries made as the work happens, with evidence attached — including everyone else’s time, not just yours.

Courts reviewing material-participation claims have repeatedly rejected time records reconstructed after the fact — one decision called such a log a “ballpark guesstimate.” The fix is structural, not heroic: a log you fill in as you work, with a column for what you did, a column for the evidence that shows you did it, and a column for who else worked and for how long. That last column is the one most owners skip, and under the most-used test (more than 100 hours and more than any other individual) it’s the one that decides the comparison.

What’s in the template: nine columns — date, start, end, minutes, activity category, what you did, who else worked, evidence, notes — with five filled-in example rows showing the level of detail that makes an entry useful. Print it, or download the CSV and keep it in Sheets or Excel. Why these columns? Read the qualification guide.

Get the template

Enter your email and the printable table and CSV download unlock right here — no redirect, no attachment to wait for. We’ll also send you early access to Key & Acorn, the copilot that builds this log for you as you work.

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You’re in — here’s the template

Download the CSV

Contemporaneous hours log — one row per work session. Example rows in italics; delete or overwrite them.
Date	Start	End	Min.	Activity category	What you did	Who else worked (+ min.)	Evidence	Notes
7/8	8:10	8:35	25	Guest communication	Answered booking inquiry; approved early check-in	—	Message-thread screenshot	Decision made by me
7/8	19:00	19:40	40	Vendor coordination	Got two plumber quotes; selected ABC Plumbing	—	Call log + emailed quote	Approved $480 repair
7/9	7:30	8:15	45	Turnover management	Post-checkout inspection; flagged rug; booked deep clean	Maria (cleaner), 120	Inspection photos	Cleaner’s time logged too

How to use it well

Log the session, not the day. “7:30–8:15, post-checkout inspection” beats “45 minutes, Tuesday stuff.” Start/end times are what make a log contemporaneous rather than reconstructed.
Attach evidence as you go. A message screenshot, a call log, a receipt, a photo. An entry with evidence is an entry that stands on its own.
Track everyone else’s hours. Cleaner, handyman, co-host. The comparison test is against every other individual — you can’t win a comparison you didn’t record.
Count the right hours. Operating the rental counts; investor-style review and travel generally don’t. The qualification guide has the full list.

Key & Acorn is software, not a tax advisor. Nothing on this page is tax advice; whether these records support a position depends on your circumstances. Talk to your CPA.