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cgallou
New Member

I am co-owner of a 2-family rental property, and the other co-owner now lives in one of the units, so he contributes to the mortgage but doesn't pay rent. How do I report the rental property correctly?

I can't report this as a "rental property where you live" because I don't live there, but the other owner does, so it is owner occupied, and he doesn't pay rent.  I can't find a place to report that.  I'm afraid if I report the whole property as a rental, even though he doesn't pay rent, I will be claiming an undue loss and getting an undue tax refund.  Can you help?
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1 Best answer

Accepted Solutions
PatriciaV
Employee Tax Expert

I am co-owner of a 2-family rental property, and the other co-owner now lives in one of the units, so he contributes to the mortgage but doesn't pay rent. How do I report the rental property correctly?

It depends on your co-ownership agreement and how you agreed to handle owner occupancy.

In most cases, you split all income/expenses with the other owner. To enter this in TurboTax, indicate your ownership percentage and enter total income & expenses so the program can calculate your portion.

You may find the best way to record this rental property is to divide it into two assets, each with your ownership percentage, rather than one unit. In this way, you can work through the interview for each unit, which will allow you to report one unit as converted to personal use. The other unit is rented at fair market so you can report as usual. Also, if the rental status of one unit changes in the future (converted back to business use, sold, etc), you can report the change without affecting the other unit.

If you do set up two assets, you would need to divide shared expenses between the two units yourself (TurboTax doesn't handle this allocation). But if you have expenses specific to one unit (cleaning between tenants, repairs, upgrades), you would enter these separately under the appropriate unit.

Look for the blue links (Learn More) in the Rental Property section in areas where you have questions.

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3 Replies
PatriciaV
Employee Tax Expert

I am co-owner of a 2-family rental property, and the other co-owner now lives in one of the units, so he contributes to the mortgage but doesn't pay rent. How do I report the rental property correctly?

It depends on your co-ownership agreement and how you agreed to handle owner occupancy.

In most cases, you split all income/expenses with the other owner. To enter this in TurboTax, indicate your ownership percentage and enter total income & expenses so the program can calculate your portion.

You may find the best way to record this rental property is to divide it into two assets, each with your ownership percentage, rather than one unit. In this way, you can work through the interview for each unit, which will allow you to report one unit as converted to personal use. The other unit is rented at fair market so you can report as usual. Also, if the rental status of one unit changes in the future (converted back to business use, sold, etc), you can report the change without affecting the other unit.

If you do set up two assets, you would need to divide shared expenses between the two units yourself (TurboTax doesn't handle this allocation). But if you have expenses specific to one unit (cleaning between tenants, repairs, upgrades), you would enter these separately under the appropriate unit.

Look for the blue links (Learn More) in the Rental Property section in areas where you have questions.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"
cgallou
New Member

I am co-owner of a 2-family rental property, and the other co-owner now lives in one of the units, so he contributes to the mortgage but doesn't pay rent. How do I report the rental property correctly?

I tried reporting two assets, but because the second one was not rented at all during 2016, Turbotax tells me to delete it as a rental.  So I'm currently planning on treating only the second unit as a rental, dividing everything common to the two units by two and ignoring the second unit.  I think I'm losing deductions that way, but it seems fair.
PatriciaV
Employee Tax Expert

I am co-owner of a 2-family rental property, and the other co-owner now lives in one of the units, so he contributes to the mortgage but doesn't pay rent. How do I report the rental property correctly?

You have the option of reporting the co-owner's payments as rent below fair market. In that way, you would have the property recorded in case things change.
**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

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