Every January the same email goes to CPAs across the country: “How many hours did you log, and can you send me the log?” What the CPA actually needs is more specific than a total. They need hours by property, so each rental can be placed against the right test. They need to know whose hours they are. They need the evidence behind the bigger entries. And if the return is ever examined, they need to show the log was kept during the year, not typed up in April. This post walks through what to send and how the REPSLog export produces it in one file.

What a CPA needs from an hours log

Run the year-end REPS checklist first: total hours against 750, the more-than-half test, material participation per property or per grouping, and whether the log will hold up. Then the CPA’s questions are practical:

• Hours by property. Material participation is tested per activity. Without a per-property split, the CPA cannot tell whether your short-term rental passed the 100-hour test or whether your long-term rentals, grouped, passed 500.
• Long-term and short-term separated. The STR loophole and REPS are different mechanisms with different thresholds. Mixing them in one table is how mistakes happen.
• Who performed the work. Spouse hours count for material participation and not for 750; contractor hours never count for you. The CPA needs the column.
• Evidence for the material entries. Invoices, receipts and photos attached to the hours they support.
• Proof of contemporaneity. When each entry was created, not just the date it says the work happened.

What the REPSLog export contains

Open Settings and tap Export My Log. Pick the tax year (only years with entries are listed), then choose three options: include supporting evidence attachments, include timestamps, and include a Schedule E summary. The export runs in the background and a download link is emailed to you, good for 7 days.

The download is a single ZIP named for the tax year. Inside:

• ltr_entries.csv and ltr_entries.pdf: your long-term rental entries.
• str_entries.csv and str_entries.pdf: your short-term rental entries. Each pair is only included if you have entries of that type.
• entries.xlsx: one Excel workbook with the same tables as sheets, header row frozen and filterable, Hours Spent stored as a number so a SUM works without cleanup.
• properties.csv: your property list with addresses.
• media/: every attached file for that year, when you ticked the attachments box.
• schedule_e_summary.pdf: when you ticked the Schedule E box. One block per property in the order Schedule E lists them, with the property’s total hours, the test it is tracked against and the hours that count toward it, hours by category and hours by participant, then the full entry table. It is not a completed Schedule E: income, expenses, depreciation and rental days are not tracked in REPSLog.

Each CSV has the columns Property Address, Date, Hours Spent, Description, Who Performed the Activity, Category, Supporting Evidence, Supporting Evidence Notes, Entry ID and Property ID, plus Created At and Updated At when timestamps are on. Hours are decimal (1.50 for 90 minutes) and rows run newest to oldest. Full details are on the CPA-ready Export page.

The timestamps are the audit defense

Tick Include timestamps and every row shows when the entry was created and last updated, alongside the date the work was performed. A log whose entries were created within a day or two of the work they describe is what examiners mean by contemporaneous. A log whose entries were all created on April 12 is the opposite. The audit survival guide covers what else gets requested; this column is the one you cannot produce after the fact.

Before you export: check the dashboard

The Hours Dashboard shows the same numbers the CPA will see: progress to 750, 500 or 100 per property, by category and by year. If a property is short, or entries are sitting on the wrong property, fix them first. The Entry Log Filters narrow the log by date range, property, participant and category with a live hours total, which is the fastest way to answer “how many hours on the duplex in Q3” before the CPA asks.

How to run the export

1. Open Settings, then Export My Log.
2. Choose the tax year.
3. Tick Include supporting evidence attachments, Include timestamps, and Include Schedule E summary as needed.
4. Tap Export My Log. You will receive an email with the download link when it is ready; the screen also shows a Click here link.
5. Forward the ZIP to your CPA, or invite them to your account with Read Only access and let them run it themselves.

Screenshots are in the Help Center article How to Export/Download Your Log into a CSV File.

Good to know

• Export is on every plan, including Free, on iPhone, Android and the web app.
• Up to 10 exports a day; download links expire after 7 days. One tax year per export.
• Short-term rentals are exported separately. A host with only STR properties gets the str_entries files and no ltr_entries files.
• Deleted entries are not included. Hidden categories and participants still appear on the entries that use them.
• Someone with access to your account can run an export; the email goes to them with you in copy.
• No AI is involved in the export.

Frequently asked questions

What format does my CPA want?

Most will take the PDF for reading and the CSV or Excel workbook for their own totals. Send the whole ZIP and let them pick.

Is the Schedule E summary a filled-in Schedule E?

No. It is hours by property in Schedule E order, with the test and the counting hours per property. Income, expenses and depreciation are not in REPSLog.

Can my CPA log in and pull it themselves?

Yes. On Premium, invite them with Read Only access through Team Access. Read Only users can view and export but cannot change anything.

Why do I need timestamps?

They show the log was kept during the year. If your return is examined, that is the difference between a contemporaneous record and a reconstruction.

Can I export more than one year?

One year per export. Run it once for each year you need.

Related reading

• How an investor-friendly CPA and REPSLog work together
• REPS grouping election statement: template and example
• How to keep a contemporaneous log that survives an IRS audit

Try REPSLog free for 14 days on iPhone, Android or the web app.

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This article is general information, not tax advice. Which test applies to each property is a question for your CPA.