Authority Guide
Dunit vs Accounting Software
Xero tracks cash flow. Dunit defends deductions. See how a purpose-built STR tax engine compares to a general ledger.
| Feature / Category | Xero (The Generalist Ledger) | Dunit (The STR Specialist) |
|---|---|---|
| Core Philosophy | A blank-canvas, double-entry ledger built to track general business cash flow. | A purpose-built tax engine designed to maximise and legally defend rental deductions. |
| Ideal User | Commercial property managers needing payroll, invoicing, and trust account management. | STR investors (1–5 properties) who want automated compliance without needing an accounting degree. |
| Time Apportionment (T-Factor) | Manual. You must review your calendar at tax time and guess a percentage for private vs. rental use. | Automated. Syncs with live iCal feeds to track booked, private, and "genuinely available" days, updating deductibility in real-time. |
| Space Apportionment (S-Factor) | Manual. You must calculate floor plan percentages on a notepad and type the discounted expense amount in manually. | Automated. Saves your Guest vs. Total m². Automatically applies the math to shared expenses (like council rates or electricity). |
| Audit Defense | Proves to the tax office that you spent the money (matches bank feeds). | Proves to the tax office why you claimed that specific percentage daily calendar log. |
| Asset Depreciation | Requires expensive add-ons or manual spreadsheet journal entries to track long-term assets. | Native. Includes the IRD master list. Just select "Television," enter the cost, and Dunit calculates the Diminishing/Straight Line deduction automatically scaled to your STR usage. |
| Platform Fee Handling | Gross income and hidden platform fees get tangled; requires manual reconciliation to fix. | Native CSV Ingestion. Automatically extracts and separates Gross Rent, Platform Fees, Cleaning Fees, and Net Payouts. |