Rental Expenses

[lilly54]

I am renting out rooms in my home.  I have postage expenses which are not advertising (e.g., noticing a tenant). Do these go in misc. expenses?

Also, I was not able to replace a tenant due to the pandemic but I still needed to pay utility and gardening bills. Can I take the relevant percentage of rental use as a deduction? If so, since I've set it up as a percentage of my home, do I need to manually figure out the percentage to deduct?

[CSKcpa56]

Postage is normally a "Miscellaneous Expense". 

the rules for rental property are that the property must be available for rent - which usually means you were advertising the room for rent. 

the rules will allow you to take a percentage of the expenses associated with maintaining the entire home relative to the space you are renting. 

So if you have a 1500 sf house and you're renting a 10x15 room = 150 sf then you should be able to deduct on Sch E a ratable portion of the utilities, mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance. As long as you were actively seeking a tenant and the rent is at the market price.  I'm not sure "gardening bills" would fall into the allocable portion - usually the costs you deduct are those directly related to making the room suitable for rent. Just be sure to maintain records - these types of deduction often have some scrutiny. 

[ColeenD3]

If you are referring to the postage specifically, you would claim the entire amount as a rental expense, if it is related to producing income for the rental portion of your home.

[lilly54]

I have postage from noticing my tenants. I am putting that in Misc. Expenses.