Home Forum Extra
Seattle Times business reporter Elizabeth Rhodes posts the answers to your real estate questions as they pop up during the week. Join this ongoing discussion, which also features reader reaction to real-estate articles appearing throughout The Times.
Home Forum, Seattle Times, P.O. Box 1845, Seattle, WA 98111
* Sorry, no personal replies.
SubscribeAugust 29, 2008 7:00 AM
Landlord boyfriend ponders tax issues
Posted by Elizabeth Rhodes
Q: My girlfriend and I are living in the town house I own and she's paying me $500 a month in rent --something less than the going rate in our neighborhood -- plus half the utilities. How do I account for this taxwise?
A: The IRS requires you to declare the $500 a month as income, says Colleen Duce of Duce Taxes & Accounting in Marysville. (It's possible you won't have to declare the utility money; you'd have to do a specific tax analysis to know that.)
You're also eligible for rental expense write-offs. However, the deductions for expenses "can't be greater than the income you receive when you live in the same house as the person who's renting from you," says Duce.
There also are rules about the order in which you must take expenses and depreciation when doing your taxes. Duce says you can figure this out on your own using IRS information. But because it's complicated you might want to use a tax pro at least the first year.
Digg
Newsvine
UPDATE - 12:02 PM
Recently listed
Popular searches
Oct 23, 08 - 08:00 AM
Homeowner lacks big down payment
Oct 22, 08 - 08:00 AM
Mold, broken dishwasher vex tenant
Oct 16, 08 - 08:00 AM
Who pays homeowners association special assessment?
Oct 15, 08 - 08:00 AM
Predicting the mortgage crisis
Oct 10, 08 - 04:00 PM
Wandering tree roots disturb sidewalk, threaten sewer line
Open Houses
|
Find this weekend's open house listings.
Or search by location:
|
nwautos
(Citroen) Finalists for World Car awards unveiled The finalists for the World Car of the Year, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car De...
Post a comment
nwjobs
Post a comment
Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Freelancers: Don't forget your 2009 tax credit
Post a comment
- 2 shot in Kirkland home invasion
- Silverdale mother and young son missing after van found in water near Olympia
- Jogger jumps off Calif. cliff to flee attacker
- Normandy Park couple sue Toyota over vehicle's lost value
- Seahawks release Deon Grant, re-sign Darryl Tapp
- Jerry Brewer | In a bad year for Pac-10, Huskies rise to the top
- Huskies will play Marquette in first-round NCAA tournament game
- Washington-Marquette preview
- Mariners Cliff Lee ejected after pitching over batter's head
- Mother, son missing after car found in water
- House likely to pass health care this week, officials say
280 - Obama heads to Ohio looking for health care votes 224
- Two shot in Kirkland home invasion 195
- Mariners-Diamondbacks game thread, March 15 151
- Seattle couple sues Toyota over car's lost value 150
- Wavering Dems in Obama's sights on health vote 120
- Petraeus: 'Time has come' to rethink gay policy 98
- The U.S. House should reject the health care bill and start over 97
- Health Care 101: A consumer primer on Obama's bill 85
- Adam Smith unswayed by Chamber ad blitz on health bill 73
- Anglers chasing wild steelhead find a challenge on the Queets River
- Rain, even urine, would help make Bullitt HQ city's 'greenest building ever'
- 2 shot in Kirkland home invasion
- City Bank of Lynnwood faces regulatory ultimatum
- Lit Life | Lit life | Norwegian author Jo Nesbø writes another chapter in the history of Nordic noir
- Normandy Park couple sue Toyota over vehicle's lost value
- AARP offers job fairs for older workers
- Travel warning issued for Mexican border towns
- Health Care 101: A consumer primer on Obama's bill
- All You Can Eat | Putting a cork in it: Bellevue's Twisted Cork and Stir, closed
February
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |