Advance Rental Payment

[Rosario - CSLP]

Hi Intuit Community,

A client decided to rent out a room in his home starting January 2024 (this is a long-term rental not AirBnB), and the tenant gave him the first-month rent in December 2023. I read everywhere that it needs to be reported in 2023. But how does he?

How does he declare that on his taxes?  Does he need to create a Schedule E? What about depreciation? The room became available for use in January, not December. 

Thank you for your support!

[Jim-from-Ohio]

rental income for 2023, no expenses

[Rosario - CSLP]

How  would you enter the rental of a ratio of a house on ProSeries? All I see is a 365 days from which I need to substract the days it got rented out.  However, they have lived there while renting a portion.  If clients rented 60% of the house for one month (31 days) while living there.  Let's say the clients lived there for 365 days, renting for 31 days 60% of the house, how do I enter that on ProSeries?  I truly appreciate your help.

[BobKamman]

I would call it a deposit and 2024 income.  If the tenant died January 1, he'd give it back to the family, right?  

Is there a lease?  But no security deposit?  Or maybe he got that in 2023, also.  Really not enough detail here.  If you must report it, just call it "other income."