Carl
Level 15

Investors & landlords

You're doing it the hard way by going around your elbow to get to your thumb. It's simple really.

Payments received for rental property is reported as rental income. Period. It does not matter the source of the payment either and includes insurance payouts.

When you paid for that rental property insurance it was a deductible rental expense. Therefore a payout from the insurance company is reportable rental income. It gets included as a part of all rental income received.

The taxability of that insurance payout is offset by the qualified rental expenses it is used to pay for.

If what the payout pays for qualifies as a repair expense, then the cost of that repair is claimed/deducted as a repair expense.

If what the payout pays for qualifies as a property improvement, then the cost of that property improvement is entered in the assets/depreciation section so it is capitalized and depreciated over time.

Since you're dealing with a mere $5000 insurance payout, I seriously doubt you'll pay taxes on a single penny of it. However, it "might" lower your carry over losses to 2020.