ABOUT
About PropHours
PropHours is an hour-logging app for rental property owners — Airbnb hosts, short-term rental operators, and long-term landlords — who need contemporaneous records of their material participation. Every hour you work, every receipt you keep, and every property you manage lives in one organized log, ready to review with your CPA.
What we build
Material participation is proven with records, not memory. PropHours gives you a timer, voice input, receipt scanning, calendar imports, and CPA-ready exports so the work you actually do becomes the evidence you can show. We record your work; we do not determine tax eligibility.
About the author
Lucas is the founder of PropHours. Lucas builds the app and writes and edits the PropHours guides on material participation, real estate professional status (REPS) and short-term rental taxes.
Before a guide goes live, Lucas checks it against IRS Publication 925 and updates it when the rules change. The guides explain the rules in general terms and are not tax advice. Questions or corrections go to hi@prophours.app.
How we write our guides
Our material participation guides explain the seven IRS material participation tests in plain English. Every guide is written or edited by Lucas to a fixed standard:
- Checked against IRS Publication 925. Each test page is written and reviewed against the IRS's own Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules guidance, and links directly to it.
- Reviewed on a schedule. Tax rules change; our guides are re-checked at least once a year and after significant IRS updates. Every page shows its last update date.
- Written for owners, not lawyers. We translate regulation language into practical terms — what counts, who each test fits, and how to document it — without inventing IRS quotes or overstating what the rules say.
- Clearly not tax advice. Our guides explain the tests in general terms. Whether you materially participate depends on your facts, and nothing on this site replaces advice from a qualified tax professional.
Corrections
If you spot an error in one of our guides, email hi@prophours.app and we will review and correct it promptly.
PropHours provides record-keeping tools and general educational information only. Nothing on this site is tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a qualified tax professional about your circumstances.