rental expense deduction

Your deductible rental expenses can be deducted whether you take the standard deduction or use itemized deductions.  They are 2 completely separate deductions and taking one does not prevent you from taking the other.  

Enter all of your rental expenses and TurboTax will figure out what you can deduct.  But rest assured, you will get your standard deduction no matter what rental expenses you deduct.  

Note: If your rental property is located out-of-state, make sure you first set up that state properly in Personal Info. That way, when you do your state taxes, we'll be ready to go.

To enter your rental:

1. In TurboTax, search for rentals and select the Jump to link at the top of the search results.
2. Answer Yes to the question Did you have any rental or royalty income and expenses in 2019 for property you own?
3. Follow the on-screen instructions as you proceed through the rental and royalties section.
   • We'll ask you to enter general information about your rental (like description, address, and ownership percentage).
   • Eventually, you'll come to the Rental Summary screen, which is where you enter your rental income and expenses, assets and depreciation, and vehicle expenses.

Tip: Rent is considered income in the year you received it, not the year it applies to. This means that a rent payment for the month of January 2020 collected in December 2019 is reported on your 2019 return.

If you're also filing a nonresident state return to report income from an out-of-state rental property, be sure to complete your nonresident state return before you prepare your resident state return when you get to the State Taxes section.  You can enter up to 45 rental properties in TurboTax.

Related Information:

• What kinds of rental property expenses can I deduct?
• What is rental depreciation and how does it differ from an expense?
• How do I handle capital improvements and depreciation for my rental?