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Rental P&L / Schedule E Tracker
$9.99The year you actually own the property, laid out line for line against IRS Schedule E with the form's own line numbers in a column. Works out the 27.5-year straight-line depreciation deduction under the mid-month convention that most self-preparers under-claim, then runs the section 469(i) passive-loss allowance and its phase-out to tell you whether you can use a loss this year or whether it suspends. Tracks adjusted basis for the eventual sale, and states plainly which figures the de minimis safe harbor and section 199A actually carry today.
Format: Excel (.xlsx)
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Preview only — scroll to read it. The file you download is fully editable.
| Rental P&L / Schedule E Tracker | |||
| One rental property, one tax year, laid out in the order IRS Schedule E asks for it - the line number for every row is in column C. Fill it in monthly or at year end. It produces the figures that go on your return, works out the depreciation deduction most landlords under-claim, and flags where the… | |||
| Part 1 - Property & year | |||
| Property address | Schedule E Part I, column A/B/C. Three properties fit on one Schedule E; a fourth needs a second copy of the form. | ||
| Tax year | 2026 | ||
| Days rented at a fair rental price | 334 | Schedule E line 2. Days available but empty still count as rental days; days you used it personally do not. | |
| Days of personal use | 0 | More than 14 days, or 10% of rental days, and the property becomes a residence under section 280A - the deduction rules change completely and this worksheet no longer describes your situation. | |
| Personal-use test | ƒx | ||
| Part 2 - Income | |||
| Rents received | 28200 | Line 3 | What you actually COLLECTED this year, not what the lease called for. Uncollected rent is not deductible on a cash-basis return - you simply never report it as income. |
| Royalties received | 0 | Line 4 | Rare on residential. Usually 0. |
| Other income (laundry, parking, pet fees, forfeited deposits) | 640 | Line 3 | A security deposit is NOT income when you receive it - it is not yours. It becomes income in the year you keep any of it. |
| Total income | ƒx | ||
| Part 3 - Expenses | |||
| Advertising | 310 | Line 5 | |
| Auto and travel | 285 | Line 6 | Mileage to and from the property for a genuine rental purpose. Keep a log; this is a commonly audited line. |
| Cleaning and maintenance | 1480 | Line 7 | |
| Commissions | 0 | Line 8 | |
| Insurance | 1850 | Line 9 | |
| Legal and other professional fees | 450 | Line 10 | Including what you pay to have the return prepared. |
| Management fees | 2256 | Line 11 | |
| Mortgage interest paid to banks | 13940 | Line 12 | INTEREST ONLY. The principal portion of your payment is not an expense - it is you buying the asset. This is the single most common error on a self-prepared Schedule E. |
| Other interest | 0 | Line 13 | |
| Repairs | 2310 | Line 14 | A repair keeps the property in working order and is deducted this year. An IMPROVEMENT betters it, restores it, or adapts it, and must be capitalised and depreciated instead - see Part 4. |
| Supplies | 190 | Line 15 | |
| Taxes (property tax) | 4180 | Line 16 | |
| Utilities | 620 | Line 17 | |
| Depreciation (from Part 4) | ƒx | Line 18 | |
| Other (HOA dues, licences, bank fees) | 0 | Line 19 | |
| Total expenses | ƒx | ||
| Schedule E line 21 - income or loss | ƒx | A loss is normal and often correct, largely because of the depreciation line. Whether you can USE it this year is Part 5. | |
| The de minimis safe harbor lets you expense an item costing $2,500 or less per invoice (or per item as the invoice substantiates) rather than capitalising it, if you attach the election to a timely return. The threshold is $2,500 from IRS Notice 2015-82 - the regulation it amends, Treas. Reg. 1.263(… | |||
| Part 4 - Depreciation | |||
| Purchase price (or adjusted basis) | 265000 | What you paid, plus purchase closing costs that are added to basis rather than deducted. | |
| Land value | 58000 | LAND IS NOT DEPRECIABLE. Split price between land and building using the assessor's own ratio - it is the allocation most easily defended, and the tax bill documents it. | |
| Capital improvements placed in service this year | 0 | A new roof, an HVAC replacement, an addition. These depreciate too, often on their own schedule - a CPA will separate them. | |
| Depreciable basis | ƒx | ||
| Land as a share of price | ƒx | Commonly 15-30%. A very low figure invites scrutiny, because it inflates the deduction. | |
| Month placed in service (1-12) | 0 | Only matters in the first year. Residential rental uses the MID-MONTH convention, so a property placed in service in June gets 6.5 months, not 7. | |
| First-year fraction (mid-month convention) | ƒx | Placed in service in January: 11.5/12 = 0.958, which is the 3.485% first-year rate in the IRS tables. Leave the month at 0 in any year after the first. | |
| Depreciation deduction for this year | ƒx | Straight line over 27.5 years - IRC 168(c) and Pub. 527. This flows to Part 3 line 18 automatically. | |
| Accumulated depreciation if held to sale, per year | ƒx | Track this. It reduces your basis and comes back as unrecaptured section 1250 gain, taxed at up to 25%, whether or not you actually claimed it - see Part 6. | |
| Part 5 - Can you use a loss this year? | |||
| Modified adjusted gross income | 118000 | Broadly your AGI before this rental loss and a handful of other add-backs. Your CPA has the exact definition. | |
| Section 469(i) special allowance | ƒx | Up to $25,000 of rental loss against ordinary income if you actively participate. It phases out at 50 cents per dollar of MAGI over $100,000 and is gone at $150,000. | |
| Loss you could use this year | ƒx | ||
| Loss suspended to future years | ƒx | Not lost - carried forward. Suspended losses are released against future passive income, and in full when you dispose of the property in a fully taxable sale. | |
| Status | ƒx | ||
| The $25,000 allowance has been $25,000 since 1986 and is NOT indexed for inflation, which is why it is worth far less in real terms every year and why the $100,000-$150,000 phase-out now catches households it was never aimed at. The way out is real estate professional status, which requires BOTH mo… | |||
| Part 6 - Basis, for the day you sell | |||
| Accumulated depreciation taken to date | 22600 | All years, not just this one. Carry it forward from last year's sheet and add row 45. |
Preview shows the first 60 rows. The full worksheet continues for 12 more — the complete worksheet is in the download.
This template is general information, not financial, legal, or tax advice.