Normally, a rental is listed on schedule E, attached to your personal tax return. To be an active business that would allow you to file on schedule C requires a significant amount of hands-on work by you. @Carl You still list your rental expenses on schedule E and pay tax on the net profit, if any.
You would never file a stand-alone business return unless you had an S-corp, a C-corp, an LLC that elected to be taxed as an S-corp, or an LLC with more than one member.
