Small landlords & PMs hub · By James Grokman, CEO, TapeAndFloat · Published October 25, 2026 · Updated October 25, 2026

Rental bookkeeping per unit for small landlords

Rental bookkeeping per unit means logging every rent payment and every expense the week it happens, tagged with the property, the unit and an expense category that matches the lines on IRS Schedule E, with the receipt attached. At year end the totals are already sorted for your tax preparer.

Free download: Owner statement template (Excel). Its Income and Expenses sheets give you one row per payment or bill with property, category and receipt columns, and it flags expenses with no receipt or no category. No email needed.

1. One log for the year, one row per money movement

Keep one list for all properties: date, property, unit (or blank for the whole building), who paid or who was paid, amount, income or expense, category, how it was paid and a link to the receipt. Enter it the same week, not in March. A shoebox of receipts loses its context fast; a row written the same week still knows which unit the plumber was at.

2. Use the Schedule E expense lines as your categories

Most individual landlords in the US report rental income and expenses on IRS Schedule E. Its expense lines are a practical category list: advertising; auto and travel; cleaning and maintenance; commissions; insurance; legal and other professional fees; management fees; mortgage interest paid to banks; other interest; repairs; supplies; taxes; utilities; depreciation; and other. Rents received go on their own line. See the IRS instructions for Schedule E for what each line covers. Using these names all year means nobody has to re-sort the year's receipts later.

3. Tag every row with a property and unit

Schedule E is filled out per property, and owners, lenders and insurers ask about single properties too. A bill with no property on it is the one that gets lost. If one bill covers several units (a whole-building water bill, a landscaping contract), note how it is split, or put the whole amount on the building and leave the unit blank.

4. A receipt behind every expense

Attach or link the invoice, receipt or bank line on the same row. Photograph paper receipts the day you get them. For vendors you pay through the year, keep their paperwork current as well; see vendor insurance certificates and invoices.

5. Keep the hard calls for your tax preparer

Some entries need a professional decision: whether a job is a repair or an improvement, how depreciation is figured, how a property you also lived in is split, and what to do with security deposits you hold. Do not guess in the log. Mark those rows "ask preparer" with a short note, and keep going. This guide is general information about keeping records, not tax advice.

6. Rent received, per unit, per month

Log each rent payment against its unit and month, with late fees as their own rows. Your rent roll is where you chase what is unpaid (see rent collection and late fees); the bookkeeping log is where the money that did arrive is recorded.

7. A monthly fifteen-minute check

Rows with no category, no property or no receipt: fix them.
Bank and card statements: every rental charge on them has a row in the log.
Rows marked "ask preparer": batch the questions.
If you manage units for other owners, run their owner statements from the same log.

Where an assistant helps

Receipts arrive by email, text photo and paper. During the pilot, TapeAndFloat sets this up one piece at a time in your own Google Sheet: it logs the receipts and bills you forward with the property, unit and category, and flags rows missing a receipt or a category for you to check. You approve anything before it goes out, and a real person reviews everything. Your tax preparer still does the return.

Free 60-day pilot: forward your job emails to the assistant, keep working in your own Sheet, and we flag what is slipping. During the pilot we set it up one piece at a time and a real person reviews everything. No new app, no card. Request a pilot spot.

More guides

Frequently asked questions

What expense categories should a small landlord use?

The expense lines on IRS Schedule E make a practical list: advertising, auto and travel, cleaning and maintenance, commissions, insurance, legal and other professional fees, management fees, mortgage interest, other interest, repairs, supplies, taxes, utilities, depreciation and other. Ask your tax preparer which line a specific expense belongs on.

Do I need to track rental income and expenses per unit?

Tracking at least per property is the practical minimum, because Schedule E is filled out per property and owners and lenders ask about single properties. Adding the unit makes repair patterns and turnover costs visible.

Is a repair the same as an improvement for taxes?

Not always, and the difference changes how the cost is treated. Log the job with a clear description and receipt, mark it 'ask preparer', and let your tax preparer decide.

Do I need accounting software for a few rentals?

Not necessarily. A spreadsheet with one row per payment or bill, a category, a property and a receipt link works if it is kept current; keeping it current from forwarded receipts is what TapeAndFloat sets up during the pilot.

Free tools

Maintenance request & work order tracker (Excel): sets due dates by urgency and flags open work orders past due, emergencies with no vendor and invoices over the limit.
Lease violation and notice log (Excel): a Log sheet (one row per issue: date observed, property / unit, tenant, issue type, lease clause, what happened in plain facts, evidence / photos link, notice sent, date sent, delivery method, copy saved link, tenant response, follow-up date, resolved date, who handled), a Units sheet with the current tenant and a signed lease link, and Settings with example follow-up and open-too-long days; flags no evidence link, notices sent with no copy saved or no date or delivery method, no follow-up date, follow-ups overdue, open too long, nobody handling and units not on your list. Record-keeping only: your lease and local/state law set what notice is required and how it must be delivered; general information, not legal advice.
Utility transfer checklist / log (Excel): a Transfers sheet (one row per unit, per utility, per move-in, move-out or vacant period: provider, account #, who holds the account after, transfer or stop requested, confirmed and proof, meter reading with date and photo link, final bill date and amount, bill-back amount, sent and paid dates), a Units sheet with which utilities the tenant and owner pay per the lease, and Settings with example reminder, final-bill and follow-up days; flags transfers not requested before a move, no confirmation, missing readings or photos, final bills not in, bill-backs not sent or not paid and units not on your list. Your lease and local/state law set who pays and what can be billed back; general information, not legal advice.
After-hours maintenance request triage log (Excel): a Requests sheet (one row per request: received date and time, property / unit, caller, call-back number, issue category, what they said, safety message given, urgency chosen by a person (Emergency now / Next business day / Routine), who decided, vendor called, called-back time, scheduled for, resolved date, photos link), a Units sheet and Settings with an example category list and example call-back targets set by your own policy; flags no urgency set, emergencies with no call-back logged, call-backs later than your target, next-business-day requests not scheduled by the next workday, no vendor, open too long and units not on your list. Gas smell, fire or smoke: tell the caller to get out and call 911 first. General information, not legal advice.
Property obligations calendar (Excel): an Obligations sheet (one row per property per obligation: insurance renewal, property tax, HOA dues, registration or permit, loan escrow check; payee, policy or account #, due date, amount, who pays, escrow confirmed, reminder days, date paid, proof of payment link, renewal quote requested), a Properties sheet and editable example reminder days; flags bills past due and not paid, due soon, no due date, no amount, no proof of payment, escrow not confirmed, policies expiring with no renewal quote and unknown properties. Your county tax office, HOA and insurer set the real dates; general information, not tax, legal or insurance advice.
Move-in / move-out inspection log (Excel): an Inspections sheet (one row per unit per inspection: due date, date done, who, tenant present and signed, photos link, photos dated, damage noted, estimated cost, invoice link, forwarding address, status, deposit deadline from your own setting) and a room-by-room Room Checklist with move-in and move-out condition side by side; flags inspections not done on time, move-outs with no move-in inspection on file, missing photos or signatures, damage with no cost, costs with no invoice and deposit deadlines coming up. General information, not legal advice.
W-9 & 1099 vendor payment tracker for landlords (Excel): a Payees sheet for plumbers, HVAC, cleaners, handymen, attorneys and other vendors (entity type, W-9 received date, mailing address; never the full tax ID) and a Payments sheet (date, vendor, amount, method, property / unit), with a total per vendor for the tax year and flags for paid with no W-9 on file, W-9 after the first payment, over the reporting threshold (editable; $2,000 for 2026 payments per irs.gov), corporations to confirm, attorneys, missing address, card/app payments and payments to someone not on the list. Whether your rental must file 1099s: ask your tax preparer. General information, not tax advice.
Rental inquiry & showing log (Excel): one row per prospect (date received, source, property and unit, move-in date asked, first reply, showing date, next step and date, status, last contact), with flags for no reply yet, showings passed with no status update, shown with no follow-up, overdue next steps and stale inquiries; thresholds on a Settings sheet.
Rent roll & late fee tracker (Excel): one row per unit per month; shows each balance, the earliest day a late fee can apply and the Texas late-fee limit by building size, and flags rent past due, fees over the limit, charged too early or without written-lease notice, cash with no receipt, missed promises to pay and balances with no reminder sent.
Lease expiration & renewal tracker (Excel): one row per lease; enter the end date and the notice days from the lease and it works back to the notice deadline, your decide-by date and a reminder, and flags leases to decide on now, notice deadlines passed with nothing sent, leases past their end date, unanswered offers and renewals accepted but not signed.
Owner statement template (Excel): properties and owners, income and expenses logged once, and one statement row per property per month with rent collected, other income, expenses, management fee (editable %), reserve held and net due to the owner; flags expenses missing a receipt, uncategorized expenses, unknown properties and negative balances.
Preventive maintenance calendar (Excel): one row per recurring task per property with interval in months, last done, next due and days left; flags overdue and due-soon tasks, rows with no interval or date, no one assigned and unknown properties; Task Ideas sheet with example intervals and the Texas smoke alarm note (Prop. Code 92.255, 92.258).
Security deposit & move-out deductions tracker (Excel): sets each refund deadline from the move-out date (Texas default 30 days, editable) and flags deposits past due, due within 7 days, missing a forwarding address or with deductions lacking an invoice.
What the assistant catches: the list of things it watches for in your inbox and Sheet.
Vendor paperwork tracker (Excel): flags missing W-9s and COIs and vendor COIs expiring within 30 days.
Compare: spreadsheet vs software: how a Sheet plus an assistant stacks up against contractor software.

All free, no sign-up.

Want this tracked for you? Join the free pilot.