Rental Property Chart of Accounts: Free Sample, Schedule E Mapping, and Setup Guide
A rental property chart of accounts is the list of categories you use to record every dollar your rentals earn, spend, own, and owe. A good real estate chart of accounts includes bank, deposit, and property asset accounts, mortgage and security deposit liabilities, owner equity, rental income, and expense accounts that line up with the IRS Schedule E categories. Copy the sample below, then keep a separate set of books for each LLC.
If you own rentals through one or more LLCs, your chart of accounts decides how easy tax season will be. Set it up well and your CPA gets clean numbers per property. Set it up badly and you spend March untangling repairs from improvements and deposits from income. This guide gives you a sample chart of accounts for rental property you can copy into QuickBooks, a spreadsheet, or any double-entry system, plus the setup steps that most templates leave out.
This guide is general bookkeeping information, not tax advice. Confirm account choices and tax treatment with your CPA.
What a rental property chart of accounts needs
Every rental chart of accounts uses the same five account types:
- Assets: what the property business owns, like operating cash, a separate security deposit account, land, buildings, and improvements.
- Liabilities: what it owes, like mortgages, credit cards, and tenant security deposits you may have to return.
- Equity: owner or member contributions, draws or distributions, and retained earnings.
- Income: rent, late fees, pet rent, and other tenant charges.
- Expenses: the costs of operating the property, grouped so they roll up to Schedule E.
Two rules matter more than the exact account names. First, a security deposit is not income. It is cash you hold and a liability you owe. Second, a capital improvement such as a new roof is not a repair expense. It goes on the balance sheet and is depreciated, and your CPA decides the treatment.
How to set up a rental property chart of accounts in 7 steps
- Decide your book structure first. One set of books per LLC is the cleanest starting point, because each LLC is its own legal entity with its own bank account. Decide this before you create a single account.
- Open a dedicated bank account per LLC. Add a separate account for security deposits if your state requires it or you want clear separation. Your chart of accounts should mirror these real accounts. Which accounts to open is in how many bank accounts to keep for rental LLCs.
- Create your asset accounts. Add operating cash, security deposit cash, tenant receivables, land, buildings, improvements, and accumulated depreciation. Record land separately from the building since land is generally not depreciated.
- Create your liability and equity accounts. Add one mortgage account per loan, a credit card account, Security Deposits Held, Member Contributions, and Member Distributions.
- Map every income and expense account to a Schedule E line. Use the table below. If an account does not map cleanly, ask your CPA whether it belongs under “Other” or on the balance sheet.
- Tag each property. Inside one LLC with several properties, tag each transaction to its property using a class, location, or property field so you can report per property.
- Review monthly and hand off yearly. Reconcile each bank account monthly, check for misclassified repairs and principal payments, and send your CPA a per-property profit and loss plus a balance sheet at year end.
Sample chart of accounts for rental property
Account numbers are suggestions. Schedule E line references follow the current form layout, so confirm them against the latest IRS form and with your CPA. Copy the rows into QuickBooks, a spreadsheet, or another double-entry system.
| # | Account | Type | Schedule E line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1010 | Operating Checking | Asset (Bank) | n/a |
| 1020 | Security Deposit Account | Asset (Bank) | n/a |
| 1100 | Tenant Receivables | Asset | n/a |
| 1500 | Land | Fixed Asset | n/a |
| 1510 | Buildings | Fixed Asset | n/a |
| 1520 | Capital Improvements | Fixed Asset | n/a |
| 1600 | Accumulated Depreciation | Contra Asset | n/a |
| 2010 | Accounts Payable | Liability | n/a |
| 2020 | Credit Card | Liability | n/a |
| 2100 | Security Deposits Held | Liability | n/a |
| 2110 | Prepaid Rent | Liability | n/a |
| 2500 | Mortgage Payable (one per loan) | Long-term Liability | n/a |
| 3010 | Member Contributions | Equity | n/a |
| 3020 | Member Distributions | Equity | n/a |
| 3900 | Retained Earnings | Equity | n/a |
| 4010 | Rental Income | Income | Line 3 |
| 4020 | Late Fees | Income | Line 3 (confirm with CPA) |
| 4030 | Other Tenant Income (pet, parking, laundry) | Income | Line 3 (confirm with CPA) |
| 5010 | Advertising | Expense | Line 5 |
| 5020 | Auto and Travel | Expense | Line 6 |
| 5030 | Cleaning and Maintenance | Expense | Line 7 |
| 5040 | Commissions | Expense | Line 8 |
| 5050 | Insurance | Expense | Line 9 |
| 5060 | Legal and Professional Fees | Expense | Line 10 |
| 5070 | Management Fees | Expense | Line 11 |
| 5080 | Mortgage Interest | Expense | Line 12 |
| 5090 | Other Interest | Expense | Line 13 |
| 5100 | Repairs | Expense | Line 14 |
| 5110 | Supplies | Expense | Line 15 |
| 5120 | Property Taxes | Expense | Line 16 |
| 5130 | Utilities | Expense | Line 17 |
| 5140 | Depreciation | Expense | Line 18 |
| 5150 | HOA Dues | Expense | Line 19 (Other) |
| 5160 | Bank and Software Fees | Expense | Line 19 (Other) |
Notice what is missing from the expense list: mortgage principal, security deposits, and improvements. Principal reduces the Mortgage Payable liability. Deposits go to Security Deposits Held. Improvements go to Capital Improvements.
Classes vs separate books per LLC or property
Most templates, especially ones built for a QuickBooks chart of accounts, tell you to keep one company file and use classes for each property. That works when everything sits in one entity. It gets risky when you have multiple LLCs.
| Topic | Classes in one company file | Separate books per LLC |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | One owner or one LLC with several properties | Two or more LLCs |
| Legal separation | Blurred, all entities share one ledger | Matches each LLC’s legal and bank boundaries |
| Balance sheet per entity | Hard, classes are mainly a P&L tool | Built in |
| Risk of commingling | Higher, one wrong tag mixes entities | Lower |
| CPA handoff | Requires filtering and cleanup | One clean report set per LLC |
| Setup effort | Lower at first | Higher at first, unless your software automates it |
A practical middle ground: separate books per LLC, and property tags inside each LLC when it owns more than one property. How those books stay apart across several LLCs, including transfers between entities, is in how to manage finances for multiple rental LLCs.
When a template isn’t enough
A free rental property chart of accounts template, PDF, or Excel sheet is a fine start. It stops being enough when:
- You own through more than one LLC and need a real balance sheet per entity.
- You are copying transactions between spreadsheets by hand every month.
- Partners or lenders need entity-level reports.
- You keep finding deposits in income or principal in expenses.
- Rent tracking lives in one tool and the books live in another.
At that point the issue is not the account list. It is the system holding it.
Rental chart of accounts checklist
- One set of books per LLC
- Dedicated bank account per LLC, plus a deposit account if needed
- Land and building recorded separately
- Security deposits recorded as a liability, never income
- Capital improvements on the balance sheet, not in Repairs
- Mortgage principal split from interest on every payment
- Every income and expense account mapped to a Schedule E line
- Each transaction tagged to a property
- Owner contributions and distributions in equity, not income or expense
- Monthly bank reconciliation
- Year-end per-property P&L and balance sheet sent to your CPA
Questions people ask
What is a chart of accounts for rental property?
It is the organized list of accounts used to record a rental business’s assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses. It keeps transactions consistent so you can produce per-property reports and give your CPA clean numbers for Schedule E.
What accounts should a landlord have?
At minimum: operating cash, security deposit cash, property and improvement assets, mortgage and security deposit liabilities, owner equity, rental income, and expense accounts matching Schedule E lines such as repairs, insurance, taxes, utilities, interest, and management fees.
Should I use classes or separate books for each rental property?
Classes inside one file can work for a single LLC with several properties. If you have multiple LLCs, separate books per LLC keep legal entities, bank accounts, and balance sheets apart. Confirm your setup with your CPA.
Are security deposits income on a rental property?
Usually they are recorded as a liability, because you may have to return them. Tax treatment can change if you keep a deposit, for example for damages. Ask your CPA how to handle kept deposits.
Is a new roof a repair or a capital improvement?
A full roof replacement is generally treated as a capital improvement and depreciated, while patching a leak is usually a repair. The line can be fuzzy, so record it carefully and confirm the treatment with your CPA.
Keep separate books per LLC
Stateful keeps separate double-entry books for each LLC, tracks rent, and includes a tenant portal and a landlord app. Android now, iPhone coming soon. Pricing is $15 a month or $144 a year, with no unit limits, and a 30-day free trial.
Start your 30-day free trial. The setup steps for each LLC are in getting started with Stateful.