The IRS Schedule E is the tax form that's filed per property to report passive rental income and expenses. There is one line to report revenue, and 15 lines to report general categories of expenses.

This article serves as a general guide on where many customers book their transactions. However, it's best to chat with a CPA or tax preparer about what they prefer and what is most advantageous for you.

The Schedule E has just one line to report income, which is found under Rents Received.

This includes regular monthly rent, but also includes rent paid in advance, utility reimbursement received from tenants, late fees on rent, cancellation fees for ending a lease early, and retained security deposits.

For short-term rental owners, it's important to report the full amount of rent received (gross rent), not just what gets paid out to your bank account (net rent / net income).

The advertising category is for any costs incurred to market your rental properties. This can include expenses for listing your property on popular listing sites, newspaper ads, social media ads, yard signs, or website expenses.

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Auto and travel refers to the costs incurred while traveling between properties for your rental business, like buying supplies or showing units to prospective tenants. You have two options for reporting auto expenses: calculating actual expenses or taking the standard mileage deduction.

Actual expenses include the cost of gas, insurance, auto repairs, costs associated with parking, tolls, and inspections. For the standard mileage deduction, you'll want to keep a mileage log that records the date, vehicle used, number of miles driven, and purpose of the trip.

This REI Hub Resource article discusses more in-depth leveraging mileage deductions in your rental business.
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Cleaning and maintenance includes payments made to cleaning companies, small equipment (i.e. vacuum cleaner), and cleaning supplies. This category often includes contractors who perform regular maintenance, like gardening/lawn care, pest control, pressure washing, and leaf or snow removal. It can also include regular maintenance from heating & air conditioning techs, electricians, and plumbers.

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Commissions specifically refers to the fee you pay real estate agent or property managers for the work they've done in finding or referring tenants, marketing the property, screening tenants, or closing leases. This category does not include expenses related to the commission you pay a real estate agent when purchasing a new property.
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The insurance expense account includes premiums for insurance policies relevant to your rental business, like homeowner, flood, hazard, or landlord insurance.

If you pay your own insurance directly, you'll simply book it as an expense to the insurance expense account! If you have an escrowed loan, these transactions are handled a little differently.

The escrow component of your mortgage payment is a transfer, not a direct expense. It is funding the escrow account associated with your loan with a monthly approximation of what your mortgage servicer thinks the annual escrow expenses will be. Then, when your mortgage servicer sends the final actual expenses for what they paid the insurance company, you'll enter a one-time escrow expense in REI Hub.
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If you pay a lawyer to review rental paperwork like leases, pay for a bookkeeper to manage your day-to-day bookkeeping, or work with an accountant for tax planning, these can all be included in the legal and professional fee expense account.

Additionally, many REI Hub users create a sub-account of legal and professional fees to specifically track software expenses.
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If you use a property manager or property management company, this is where you would record the fees you send them. If you host on short-term rental sites like Airbnb or VRBO, the host-service fees are generally applied to the management fees expense account.

Mortgage interest specifically refers to the interest on loans that are considered traditional mortgages. In REI Hub, you can use the loan payment template to automate the principal and interest split of each loan payment.
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Other interest (non-mortgage) encompasses the interest paid to any non-standard loans like lines of credit, interest-only loans, and balloon loans. Check out the Tracking Interest-Only Loans and Lines of Credit Knowledge Base article on fully accounting for these non-standard loans.
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The repairs expense account refers to expenses incurred to keep the property in good functional, operating condition. This category is usually a little more extensive than regular maintenance, like replacing a broken faucet or calling in an electrician to fix a broken light fixture.

If the project totals over $2,500, those are usually considered to be fixed assets and depreciated over time. Check with your accountant about what would be best for your specific bookkeeping.
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Supplies is a pretty broad expense category! Generally, supplies can include office supplies like paper, pens, and calendars. For short-term rental owner and operators, a common supply expense would be for cleaning supplies like disinfectants and paper towels.
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The taxes expense account refers to taxes for your rental property. The transactions booked to this account are most commonly state and local property taxes, but can also include school taxes, local licensing taxes, and occupancy taxes.
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Direct utilities you pay, such as water, electricity, gas, and waste management, are a few examples of utility transactions we see in the utilities expense account. If your tenant pays for these utilities, it is not deductible. If you pay for them and your tenant reimburses you, the reimbursement need to be recorded as income and the utilities booked as expenses offset that revenue.
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Cell phone costs can be included in the utilities expense account if the phone line is used entirely for your rental business. If you have a cell phone that has shared business and personal use, then you'll want to deduct a percentage of the total cost that pertains to the business use.

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Depreciation is the reduction in the value of an asset with the passage of time, due in particular to wear and tear. For example, the entire cost of a new roof cannot be deducted in one year, but a portion of it -- known as depreciation -- can be deducted over a number of years. Many CPAs and tax preparers can provide this value for you, or REI Hub can calculate a general amount.

At this time, REI Hub does not automatically record your depreciation entries. We do offer a Fixed Asset Schedule report that calculates and provides a recommended annual depreciation entry per asset using the following standards, or you can enter a depreciation value a CPA or tax preparer calculates for you.

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The other expense account encompasses anything that doesn't necessarily fit within one of the other Schedule E expense categories. If you work with a CPA or tax preparer, check and see how they want these expenses handled as some love the 'Other' category and some do not.

In REI Hub, many users create sub-accounts of the 'Other' expense account to include more description, like for HOA fees or software expenses.

The Schedule E expense accounts can be seen on all REI Hub's reports, including the net income, operating cash flow, and net operating income. REI Hub's Schedule E report directly aligns with the Schedule E form, including totals that you can enter into the different lines of the IRS form.