While provincial regulations are coming this spring to tackle the proliferation on short-term rentals, federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says new measures announced in yesterday’s fall fiscal update will help support that.

With the growing shortage of housing and rental units, the opportunity platforms like Airbnb and Verbo provide to rent out properties to vacationers is coming under increased scrutiny.

Freeland told Your VOCM Mornings that the federal government is bringing in new taxation rules intended to support provincial regulations.

She says the province is bringing in short-term rental regulations that will crack down on those “revolving door” short-term rental properties seen in many communities these days. She says the province’s regulations are intended to make it more economical for an owner to rent-out their property for the longer-term. “The federal government is coming in to support that,”

Freeland says short-term rental properties will need to be registered in order to benefit from tax breaks.

She says unless your short-term rental property is registered, then you won’t be able to deduct any expenses on your income tax return.