Carl
Level 15

Business & farm

You don't. An LLC is for reporting "earned" income. Rental income is passive, and is reported on SCH E no matter what. So if the only thing your LLC "owns" is the rental property, you have absolutely nothing to report in the way of income/expenses on a SCH C. Some additional information you may find useful also.

In order for an LLC to "own" anything, the LLC has to be listed as the owner on the paperwork (the title in the case of land). For real estate, if there's a mortgage on it you can't just go and change that yourself. Otherwise, when the mortgage lender finds out about it (and they will) the total balance due on the mortgage is due and payable immediately. If you don't pay it immediately, they begin the foreclosure process. In order to change the ownership of mortgaged property, you need the written permission of the mortgage holder to do that. No mortgage holder in their right mind will grant that permission either. Now I won't bother getting into the issues this can cause with the property insurance. That's a whole 'nother ball 'o wax.