Tax Topic 415  Renting Residential and Vacation Property

Formerly Renting Vacation Property and Renting to Relatives

If you receive rental income from renting a dwelling unit, such as a house or an apartment, you may deduct certain expenses. These expenses, which may include interest, taxes, casualty losses, maintenance, utilities, insurance, and depreciation, will reduce the amount of rental income that is taxed. You will generally report such income and expenses on Form 1040 (PDF) and Form 1040, Schedule E (PDF). If you are renting to make a profit and do not use the dwelling unit as a home, your deductible rental expenses may be more than your gross rental income. Your rental losses, however, generally will be limited by the “at-risk” rules and/or the passive activity loss rules. For information on these limits, refer to Publication 925, Passive Activities and At-Risk Rules.

If you rent a dwelling unit that you also use as a home, there are different limitations on your deductible rental expenses. You are considered to use a dwelling unit as a home if you use it for personal purposes during the tax year for more than the greater of: 14 days or 10% of the total days it is rented to others at a fair rental price. It is possible that you will use more than one dwelling unit as a home during the year. For example, if you live in your main home for 11 months, your home is a dwelling unit used as a home. If you live in your vacation home for the other 30 days of the year, your vacation home is also a dwelling unit used as a home unless you rent your vacation home to others at a fair rental value for 300 or more days during the year.

A day of personal use of a dwelling unit is any day that it is used by:

• You or any other person who has an interest in it, unless you rent your interest to another owner as his or her main home under a shared equity financing agreement
• A member of your family or of a family of any other person who has an interest in it, unless the family member uses it as his or her main home and pays a fair rental price
• Anyone under an agreement that lets you use some other dwelling unit
• Anyone at less than fair rental price

If you use the dwelling unit for both rental and personal purposes, you generally must divide your total expenses between the rental use and the personal use based on the number of days used for each purpose. However, you will not be able to deduct your rental expense in excess of your gross rental income. If you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A, you may still be able to deduct mortgage interest, property taxes, and casualty losses on that schedule.

There is a special rule if you use a dwelling as a home and rent it for fewer than 15 days. In this case, do not report any of the rental income and do not deduct any expenses as rental expenses.

Another special rule applies if you rent part of your home to your employer and provide services for your employer in that rented space. In this case, report the rental income, but do not deduct any expenses as rental expenses.

Tax Topic 414  Rental Income and Expenses

Generally, cash or the fair market value of property you receive for the use of real estate or personal property is taxable to you as rental income. You can generally deduct expenses of renting property from your rental income. Income and expenses related to real estate rentals are usually reported on Form 1040, Schedule E (PDF). If you provide substantial services that are primarily for your tenant’s convenience, you report your income and expenses on Form 1040, Schedule C (PDF). Income and expenses related to personal property rentals are reported on Form 1040 (PDF).

Most individuals operate on a cash basis, which means they count their rental income as income when it is actually or constructively received, and deduct their expenses as they are paid. Some specific types of income are:

• Amounts paid to cancel a lease – If a tenant pays you to cancel a lease, this money is also rental income and is reported in the year you receive it.
• Advance rent – Generally you include any advance rent paid in income in the year you receive it regardless of the period covered or the method of accounting you use.
• Expenses paid by a tenant – If your tenant pays any of your expenses, those payments are rental income. You may be allowed to deduct the expenses if they are considered deductible expenses.
• Security deposits – Do not include a security deposit in your income if you may be required to return it to the tenant at the end of the lease. But if you keep part or all of the security deposit during any year because the tenant damaged the property or did not live up to the terms of the lease, this money is taxable income in the year this determination is made. If the security deposit is to be used as the tenant’s final month’s rent, you include the money as income when you receive it, rather than when you apply it to the last month’s rent.

Some examples of expenses that may be deducted from your total rental income are:

• Depreciation – You begin to depreciate your rental property when you place it in service. You can recover some or all of your original acquisition cost and improvements by using Form 4562 (to report depreciation) beginning in the year your rental property is first placed in service, and beginning in any year you make improvements or add furnishings.
• Repairs – Repairs just keep your property in good working condition but do not add to the value of the property.
• Operating Expenses
• Uncollected rents – If you are a cash basis taxpayer, you cannot deduct uncollected rents as an expense because you have not included those rents in income.

For information on depreciation, refer to Publication 946, How To Depreciate Property. Repair costs, such as materials, are usually deductible. For a discussion of the difference between repairs and improvements, refer to Publication 527, Residential Rental Property (Including Rental of Vacation Homes).

There are special rules relating to the rental of real property that you also use as your main home or your vacation home. For information on income from these rentals, or from renting at an amount less than the fair market value, refer to Topic 415, Renting Residential and Vacation Property (formerly Renting Vacation Property and Renting to Relatives).

If you do not use the rental property as a home and you are renting to make a profit, your deductible rental expenses can be more than your gross rental income, subject to certain limits. For information on these limitations, refer to Topic 425, Passive Activities -Losses and Credits.