Schedule E Property Entry Question

[Mike12321]

Do rental properties have to be listed separately with their individual income and expenses or can they be combined into a single or a couple of listings with the income and expenses of a group of properties addresses combined?

[itonewbie]

Theoretically yes.  According the filing instructions, you will still need to attach a schedule showing those separate properties in the exact same format as Sch E:

You can attach your own schedule(s) to report income or loss from any of these sources. Use the same format as on Schedule E.

In the end, that may actually create more work because of how depreciation is linked to each individual property, PAL allocation, etc., unless your client has a sizeable portfolio that makes working offline on a spreadsheet worthwhile.

[itonewbie · Accepted solution]

It is clear from another part of the Sch E filing instructions that the IRS wants each property listed one by one [emphasis added]:

Complete lines 1a, 1b, and 2 for each rental real estate property. For royalty property, enter code “6” on line 1b and leave lines 1a and 2 blank for that property.

If you have more than three rental real estate or royalty properties, complete and attach as many Schedules E as you need to list them.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Lumping them all together can be problematic when one of the rentals sells.

[taxes96786]

The more detail the better. When you lump them all together it causes future problems when taking replacing a depreciation item, when you take items or rentals out of service, and no record of individual income or expenses for each rental, or when certain repairs/improvements/appliances etc were last made or purchased.