Your rentals, ready for Schedule E

What's inside

• Properties. Up to 10 residential rentals (commercial buildings depreciate over 39 years, so ask your accountant). Split each price into building and land, since land never depreciates. Most closing costs are added to basis (loan costs such as points aren't). Depreciation for the year and to date is calculated for you.
• Transactions. Every payment in or out, with property and category. Each category maps to its Schedule E line.
• Improvements. A new roof, deck or furnace is depreciated, not deducted at once. Each one has its own start date.
• Summary. Schedule E lines 3 to 21 for each property and in total, plus mortgage principal, improvements, deposits held and real cash flow.
• Personal use, handled. With any personal use, shared expenses and depreciation are split by days (advertising, commissions and management fees aren't, since they belong only to the rental). A property you used for more than the greater of 14 days or 10% of the rented days counts as a home: it's flagged, and the Summary won't show a loss for it, because Pub 527 doesn't allow one. A home rented out for fewer than 15 days is flagged too: that rent isn't reported at all.

The rules it follows

From IRS Publication 527 and the Schedule E instructions:

• Residential buildings depreciate over 27.5 years, straight line, from the middle of the month they're first available to rent. The file reproduces the IRS table: a $160,000 building placed in service in February gives $5,091 in year one, as in Pub 527's example.
• Only mortgage interest is deductible, not principal. Split each payment.
• Security deposits aren't income while you plan to return them. Any part you keep is income.
• Rent paid in advance is income in the year you receive it.
• Repairs keep a property working and are deducted now. Improvements make it better or longer-lasting and are depreciated.

On the IRS's draft 2026 Schedule E, the “other interest” line becomes 13b, with vehicle loan interest on 13a. The file notes this.

Good to know

• Appliances and furniture are depreciated over 5 years with a different method. Ask your accountant rather than using the Improvements tab.
• A rental loss can be limited by the passive activity rules.
• This is a bookkeeping tool, not tax advice.

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