myTax 2020 Rent

Complete this section for rental income earned and expenses incurred when you rent out your rental property located in Australia.

Things to know

Rental deductions for vacant land

From 1 July 2019, you can't claim rental deductions for the cost of holding vacant land, even if you are building or intend to build a rental property.

If your rental property was destroyed by a natural disaster or circumstances beyond your control, you can still claim deductions for the cost of holding the land for three years from the time the property was destroyed. You may apply to the Commissioner for an extension to the three year limit.

To learn more, see Deductions for vacant land.

Tax and COVID-19

Your rental property income and deductions may have been affected by COVID-19. For more information, see COVID-19 and residential rental properties.

For general information about ATO measures and support during COVID-19, see COVID-19.

Co-ownership of rental property

The way the rental income and expenses are divided between co-owners varies depending on whether the co-owners are joint tenants, tenants in common or there is a partnership carrying on a business of letting rental properties.

See also:

• Dividing income and expenses according to legal interest
• Co-owners of an investment property (not in business)
• Partners carrying on a business of letting rental properties

Renting out part or all of your home

If you rented out part, or all, of your home, the rent money you received is assessable income. This means:

• you must declare the rental income in your income tax return
• you can claim deductions for associated expenses, such as part or all of the interest on your home loan
• you may not be entitled to the full main residence exemption from capital gains tax (CGT) when you sell your home.

See also:

• Renting out part or all of your home

Renting out your holiday home

If you have a holiday home that you rent out, you must include the rent money you received in your assessable income. You can also claim deductions for the associated expenses. In deducting your expenses you must ensure that you are apportioning expenses to account for any private use of the property. You can only claim expenses for periods that your holiday home was being rented or was genuinely available for rent.

See also:

• Holiday homes

Do not show at this section

Don't show the following at this section:

• a deduction for the decline in value of a low-value pool, go to Low-value pool deduction
• foreign source rental income, that is, rental income from properties outside Australia, go to Other foreign income
• expenses incurred in earning rental income from properties located outside Australia, go to Other foreign income
• income earned, or expenses incurred, from peer-to-peer sharing or your car, caravan or car parking space, go to Any other income.

Video tutorials

The following video shows you how to include rental income and expenses in myTax.

You can watch How to include rental income and expenses in myTaxExternal Link in full screen on atoTV.

The following video shows you how to use the Depreciation and capital allowances tool.

You can watch How to use the Depreciation and capital allowance toolExternal Link in full screen on atoTV.

Completing this section

You must have the right records for the claims that you make. You will need details of:

• all rental income earned
• interest charged on money you borrowed for the rental property
• other expenses relating to your rental property
• if applicable, the period your property was genuinely available for rent
• any expenditure on capital works to your rental property.

See simple steps when preparing your return for useful guidance on how to show your income and expenses.

To personalise your return to show Australian rental income and expenses, at Personalise return select:

• You had Australian interest, or other Australian income or losses from investments or property
• Rent (Australian properties)

To show your Australian rental income and expenses, at Prepare return select 'Add/Edit' at the Rent banner.

At the Rent banner:

Rental property details

We may pre-fill your tax return with some rental property details from your last year's tax return.

1. For each rental property you own or have an interest in that:
   • has pre-filled, check them and add rental property details not pre-filled into the corresponding fields.
   • has not pre-filled, select Add and enter rental property details into the corresponding fields.
     • Property name
     • Address
       In the Search address field, start entering an address and select your property address from the drop-down menu.
       If your rental property address is not listed in the drop-down menu, select Use entered address and enter the full rental property address in the fields provided.
     • Date property first genuinely available for rent
       Enter the first date that the property was genuinely available for rent
     • Number of weeks property was rented this year
       Enter the number of weeks the property was rented out during the income year
     • Ownership percentage
       Enter the percentage amount of your ownership.
       If you co-own the rental property, you need to be aware of the way that rental income and expenses are divided between co-owners. Visit Co-ownership of rental property to learn more.
      
    

Rental income

2. For each rental property, complete the rental income fields:
   • Total rental income
     Enter the total amount of rent payments received for the property
   • Total other-rental related income
     Enter the total of other rental-related income.
    

If your ownership percentage is less than 100%, myTax will use your ownership percentage to calculate your share of the income amounts. You may alter your share of the amounts. If you do, keep a record of how you worked out your share.

MyTax will calculate Total gross rent. If your ownership percentage is less than 100%, myTax will also calculate Your share of gross rent.

Rental expenses

3. For each rental property, complete the rental expenses fields.

The Depreciation and capital allowances tool can help you work out any decline in value. It can also work out any deductible balancing adjustment when you stop holding a depreciating asset. Access this tool when you enter your rental income or expense details.
Fields from this tool can’t be adjusted in myTax. To make any adjustments or to add new assets to the tool, select the ‘Use the depreciation and capital allowances tool’ link.

If your ownership percentage is less than 100%, myTax will use your ownership percentage to calculate your share of the expense amounts. You may alter your share of the amounts. If you do, keep a record of how you worked out your share.

MyTax will calculate Total expenses. If your ownership percentage is less than 100%, myTax will also calculate Your share of total expenses.

MyTax will calculate Net rent based on the calculated amounts in Total gross rent and Total expenses. If your ownership percentage is less than 100%, myTax will also calculate Your share of net rent.

4. Select Save.
5. Select Save and continue when you have completed the Rent section.

See also:

• Keeping records
• Rental properties