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What a rental tax-year file looks like

This is an example, not a real property. Every address, date and figure below is invented, and the amounts are chosen to be plausible rather than typical. It is here so you can see the shape of what HomeBasisLedger produces before deciding whether it is worth paying for.

This is the file a landlord downloads once a year and hands to whoever prepares their return. It is deliberately not a tax calculation — it is the record, organised the way the form is, so nobody has to translate between our words and theirs.

48 Perry Lane, Springfield

Tax year 2025· Rental / Investment for the whole year

Rent received

2025-01-05 Rent — January$2,200.00
2025-02-05 Rent — February$2,200.00
2025-03-05 Rent — March (11 further months follow)$2,200.00
Total rent received$26,400.00
Security deposit held — listed, and not counted as income$2,200.00

A deposit generally is not income while you intend to return it, so it is tracked apart. It becomes income in the year any of it is kept — which is a call for you and your tax professional, and the record is what makes it answerable.

Expenses, by Schedule E line

Every line appears, including the ones with nothing against them. A zero is information: it says this owner has no commissions to claim, rather than leaving a preparer to wonder whether it was simply never recorded.

5 Advertising$240.00
6 Auto and travel$0.00
7 Cleaning and maintenance$535.00
8 Commissions$0.00
9 Insurance$1,840.00
10 Legal and other professional fees$309.95
11 Management fees$2,112.00
12 Mortgage interest paid to banks, etc.$8,940.00
13 Other interest$0.00
14 Repairs$695.00
15 Supplies$96.00
16 Taxes$4,310.00
17 Utilities$1,284.00
19 Other (list)$0.00
Total expenses$20,361.95

Line 18, depreciation, is deliberately absent. It is derived from basis, method and dates rather than paid to anybody, and working it out is the line this product does not cross. What it gives your preparer instead is below.

Improvements placed in service this year

Capital, so these are not deducted this year and their total is never added to the expenses above. Grouped by the recovery period you and your tax professional settled on — one line per asset, which is what a depreciation schedule needs.

27.5 yr · Building or structural component

2025-07-22 Roof replacement$14,800.00

15 yr · Land improvement

2025-04-30 Driveway resurfaced$3,900.00

5 yr · Appliances and furnishings

2025-03-14 Replacement refrigerator$760.00
Total improvements — adjust basis, not deducted$19,460.00

HomeBasisLedger keeps records; it is not tax advice. What qualifies as an improvement, how your basis is calculated, and what you may owe are questions for you and your tax professional.

The real file is a spreadsheet, one per tax year, produced from whatever you have recorded. Rent and deposits, every expense against the line you chose for it, and improvements grouped by class — with receipts kept alongside. That is the Investor plan, $9.95/month, with Pro included.

See the plans →