In 2020, we allowed our daughter to stay in our second home instead of formally renting it out, and she just reimbursed us for the utilities (we also could have asked that she put them in her name, but we were unsure how long the situation would last). Midway through 2021, we asked her to pay a little more. The FMV (no assessment - ballpark and hindsight) of the rent would be about $1,400/month; we asked her to pay $300/month above the reimbursed utilities . She in fact voluntarily paid $550 because ... she wanted to. So the total amount we "gifted" to her in 2021 was about $15,600, just above the annual $15,000 gift limit. We had and have no formal rental agreement.
We have no other deductions sufficient to Itemize, so will claim the Standard Deduction. We had no significant house expenses in 2021 on that house. Is it just as simple as:
We made $1,800 rental (other) income in 2021 so pay the income taxes on it.
