Income in Leased Apartment

wibib8t2

Good afternoon!

I live in a leased apartment and share expenses (rent, utilities, household supplies) with a number of others in my industry. We each pay a flat rate towards expenses and they sign a month-to-month agreement with me. I pool our money to pay the bills and make sure the apartment is clean and stocked for all of us. This is the 3rd year I will be claiming this on my taxes. Once expenses are deducted I don't make a profit, but have been claiming it as Rental Income based on advice from another tax forum. I'm not 100% sure this is the correct place to claim it as I don't own the property and many of the questions in the tax software don't describe my situation.

Should I continue to claim this as Rental Income, Other Income or somewhere else entirely? I'm hoping a tax profession can advise. Happy to answer questions, if additional info is needed.

Thanks!

MatthewD

Hello wibbit82,

You are correctly claiming that as rental income. When you report the rental expense you may divide the rent, utilities and supplies equally and report the expenses on the schedule E. It doesn't matter that you do not own the property. You don't report any depreciable asset, unless you own some furniture or appliances. Based on what you have described, you are doing this correctly. For additional details see this article about Rental Income.