Free Rental Property Income & Expense Tracker (and How to Use It)
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If you own one to ten rentals, you don't need expensive accounting software to know whether each property makes money. You need one place to record every dollar in and out, a consistent set of categories, and a short monthly habit. This guide gives you all three, including a free spreadsheet that works in Excel and Google Sheets.
Download the free Rental Income Tracker (Lite)
One property, a transactions log with dropdowns, and an automatic monthly dashboard with an income vs. expense chart. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
Google Sheets: upload the file to Google Drive, open it, then choose File → Save as Google Sheets.
Why track every rental separately
Lumping all your rental money together hides the answers you actually need: Which property is carrying the others? Did that roof repair wipe out the year's cash flow? Is a rent increase justified? Tracking by property answers those in seconds. It also makes year-end much easier, because US landlords generally report each rental property's income and expenses separately on Schedule E (Form 1040).
The simplest way to keep it clean is a separate bank account (or at least a separate card) for your rentals, so personal and rental transactions never mix.
What to record for each transaction
For every payment in or out, capture:
- Date: when the money moved.
- Property: which rental it belongs to.
- Category: rent, repairs, insurance and so on (see below).
- Amount: as a positive number. The category tells you whether it's income or an expense.
- Payee or payer and a short description: "ABC Plumbing – kitchen leak."
- Payment method and whether you've saved the receipt, plus where it's stored.
The free tracker has a column for each of these, and it fills in the type (income or expense), year and month automatically.
Categories that make tax time easy
Use categories that match how your tax preparer will think. Many landlords mirror the expense lines on Schedule E. Here's the set built into our tracker:
| Category | Typical examples |
|---|---|
| Rent (income) | Monthly rent received |
| Other income | Late fees, pet rent, parking or laundry, deposit amounts you keep for damage |
| Advertising | Listing fees, signs |
| Auto & travel | Trips to the property (keep a mileage log) |
| Cleaning & maintenance | Turnover cleaning, lawn care, pest control |
| Insurance | Landlord or dwelling policy, umbrella share |
| Legal & professional fees | Attorney, CPA, bookkeeping |
| Management fees | Property manager, leasing fees |
| Mortgage interest | Interest portion only, not principal |
| Repairs | Fixing what's broken (not improvements) |
| Supplies | Filters, batteries, small hardware |
| Property taxes | County or city real estate taxes |
| Utilities | Utilities you pay as the owner |
| Other | HOA dues, software, bank fees |
A 15-minute monthly routine
- Download your rental bank and card activity for the month.
- Enter or paste each transaction into the log with its property and category.
- Save receipts to a dated folder (e.g. Rentals/2026/Receipts) and mark "Receipt saved."
- Check the dashboard: does income match the rent you expected? Any expense surprises?
- Note follow-ups: unpaid rent, warranty claims, bills to dispute.
Done monthly, year-end is just handing over a summary instead of rebuilding twelve months from bank statements.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Recording mortgage payments as one expense. Only the interest portion is typically an expense. Principal isn't.
- Mixing personal and rental spending on the same card without notes.
- Forgetting small, recurring costs such as software, bank fees and mileage. They add up.
- Waiting until tax season to find receipts.
When to upgrade
The free Lite version covers one property. If you have more, our full Rental Income & Expense Tracker ($19) handles up to 10 properties. It adds a property-by-property dashboard, net per unit, and a year-end category summary laid out like Schedule E.
If you'd rather automate, landlord platforms can take care of rent collection and some bookkeeping. Baselane focuses on landlord banking and bookkeeping. TurboTenant and RentRedi focus on rent collection and tenant management. Compare current features and pricing on their sites. Many landlords pair one of these with a simple spreadsheet for the year-end summary.
General information only, not tax, legal or financial advice. Tax rules change and depend on your situation. Consult a qualified tax professional.