Rental property tax worksheet

Which rental income and expenses to total up at tax time, and how a worksheet keeps them in one place.

Updated October 30, 2026

See the Rental Property Spreadsheet

What a rental property tax worksheet is

A rental property tax worksheet is a one-page summary of a year: total rental income and total expenses by category, for each property. It is not a tax form. It is the page you work from when you fill in the form, or the page you hand to your accountant so they do not have to sort your receipts.

A good worksheet is built from a ledger of individual payments, not typed in at the end of the year. That way every total can be traced back to the rows behind it.

Why it saves time at tax season

Without a worksheet, tax time means finding a year of bank statements, receipts and emails, deciding what each one was, and adding them up. With one, the adding up is already done and the question is only where each total goes.

If you pay an accountant by the hour, a clean worksheet is also the cheapest way to cut the bill.

How to set it up

Start from a transactions table with five columns: date, property, category, description, amount. The worksheet itself is one row per category with three columns:

1. Category, taken from your list in Settings.
2. Your tax form line, which you fill in once: the line on your own return that this category goes on.
3. Amount for the year, a SUMIFS formula over the transactions for that category, that property and that year.

Add a property selector at the top so the same sheet shows one property or all of them. Many forms ask for each property separately, so you will usually print one page per property.

See the Rental Property Spreadsheet

What to record during the year

Record each payment when it happens, with the date it was paid. For income, that means:

• Rent, including rent paid in advance. In the US, advance rent counts as income in the year you receive it, whatever period it covers.
• Fees such as late fees or a fee to break a lease.
• Deposits you keep. In the US, a security deposit you plan to return is not income; the part you keep, for example for damage, is income in the year you keep it.
• Bills the tenant pays for you, such as a repair they pay and take off the rent. Record the full rent as income and the repair as an expense.

For expenses, keep the receipt or statement for each row. Write in the description what it was for. "Home Depot $86" means nothing in April; "Faucet, Maple St kitchen" does.

By country

United States. Rental income and expenses for most landlords go on Schedule E (Form 1040), Part I, with one column per property. Its expense lines line up closely with the categories in the Reamwise template:

Line numbers can change. Check the form for the year you are filing, and the IRS guide for landlords, Publication 527.

Other countries. The UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand each have their own form or section for rental income, with their own expense groups and rules. The worksheet works the same way: keep the categories general, look up your tax authority's guidance for landlords, and note the matching line next to each category once.

Worked example

The year-end worksheet for 12 Maple St, using the sample numbers in the Reamwise template:

Two things to notice. The mortgage line is the interest from the lender's year-end statement, not twelve monthly payments. And depreciation is not in the sample: in the US it is usually the largest single expense on a rental, worked out separately from the purchase price, so add it as one yearly row once you or your accountant have the figure.

Common mistakes

• Counting the whole mortgage payment. The principal is not an expense. Use the interest figure from the lender's statement.
• Treating an improvement as a repair. Fixing a leak is usually a repair. A new roof or a kitchen remodel is usually an improvement, which in the US is depreciated over several years rather than deducted at once.
• Leaving out income that did not arrive as rent: advance rent, kept deposits, repairs paid by the tenant.
• Mixing years. A December bill paid in January belongs to the year you paid it if you keep cash-basis books. Filter by payment date, not by the date on the invoice.
• Personal use. If you or family stayed in the property part of the year, special rules can apply. Ask a tax professional.

Summary

Record each payment during the year, then let the worksheet add up one total per category, per property. Note once which line of your return each category goes on. Watch the usual traps: whole mortgage payments, improvements booked as repairs, and income that did not arrive as rent. The Rental Property Spreadsheet includes a Tax summary tab built this way.

Disclaimer. For general information only. Not tax, legal or financial advice. Check the rules for your country or ask a qualified adviser. Read the full disclaimer.